


Not Ready to Die

by SpaceShark



Series: Semper Fi [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Punisher (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. References, Comfort/Angst, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Emotional Hurt, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fights, Flashbacks, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Hurt/Comfort, Hydra (Marvel), Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Maria Hill needs a hug, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pre-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Punisher needs love too, Rage, Tony Stark Does What He Wants
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-03-21 09:10:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 38,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3686562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceShark/pseuds/SpaceShark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Infamous vigilante Frank Castle is offered a choice by Tony Stark: join Stark Industries and help the Avengers defeat HYDRA or go to prison. Frank begrudgingly accepts, and finds himself drawn into their lives. Even a lost soul such as his can find redemption and comfort. Eventual Punisher/Maria Hill.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Five Years Ago

The room on the second story of Victor Emmanuel's Villa wasn't very large, but it served all their needs. Bar, TV, office, a safe for the goods, and stockpiles of drugs. It was what you'd expect for an underboss in the Gambino mafia.

Mario wasn't feeling that great today. He'd had to intimidate another couple of squatters in the Bronx, plus find a missing shipment of high-grade military weapons. Plus he had a killer migraine. He was about to let his men out of the room so that he could nap, if it wasn't for the knocking at the door. Mario figured that one more grievance wouldn't hurt him.

Frank Castle opened the door and entered the room. Immediately he recognized Mario at the desk. The other two men who were there were watching a soccer game; Italy vs England in the World Cup. There were also two more he didn't recognize. Both of them heavily tattooed and didn't look like typical mafia. More like bounty hunters or hired guns from some foreign country.

Not that it mattered to Castle. They were all the same. Time to do business here and get out.

"Hey there," said Frank, in a something of sarcastic tone. "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions." As Frank expected, the others began subtlety reaching for weapons, just in case.

Mario looked amused. Also as expected. "Well then, Mr…"

"Castle."

"Mr. Castle, then, what is so interesting that you come here?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me what happened a week ago in Central Park."

"Pretty sure it was like another day." Frank saw that Mario was tired, not willing to talk for long. "Did anything happen?"

"Maybe this will clear up your mind." Frank pulled out a newspaper clipping from the day he asked about. The headline read "WOMAN AND CHILDREN BRUTALLY MURDERED IN MOB HIT".

Mario's eyes widened, and then he reached for a drawer. "So, my friend, how much do you want?"

"I'm not here for money. Do you know who these people were?"

Mario started to get angry. "Okay, if you-"

Castle sprang into action.

First he pulled out the Colt .45 in his holster and shot Mario clean in the neck. He wanted him to be alive a little while longer. As expected yet again, the two tattooed men were first to get up to try and kill him. Frank pulled out his other sidearm and shot both of them easily. The other two, the ones who were there, got behind the bar and began to fire back, even getting Frank in the forearm. Seemingly unfazed, Frank walked towards the bar and unloaded his two guns in the bar. One of them gave a scream of agony (which Frank recognized as the cry of a dead man), while the other limped towards Frank with a broken bottle in hand, still trying to kill him. Frank easily took it out of his hand and turned it against him.

Finished, Frank began to inspect his surroundings, making sure not a sound was heard by the restaurant patrons below. A hand attempted to grab his ankle. Frank looked down, it was Mario's.

Frank grinned, then used his other foot in a boot to break Mario's arm.

Confident that Mario was dying, Frank decided it was time to tell him.

"That woman and her two children? They were my fucking family. You took them from me because you couldn't leave any witnesses to your latest holdup, could you? No. Now, I'm going to destroy it all. Every mob, criminal, or corrupt person dumb enough to get in my way is going to die. I'll tell your friends you said hello."

Frank expended another bullet, packed his weapons, and left as anonymously as he had entered. It was another two and a half hours before another mobster stumbled upon what was the Punisher's first "mess".

Present Day

".. and I swear, that's all I know about Kapalkin! I swear!"

"I believed you," said Frank as he pushed the Russian mobster of the roof of the hideout in Staten Island. It was one of over a dozen scattered in the city, and even more in the state.

This week he was going after a powerful Russian kingpin with ties to this new group called HYDRA. They were as fair of game as anything else he'd gone after these five years.

Frank packed his usual supply of gear for a mission: A SCAR assault rifle, five different pistols with different purposes, a full suit of Kevlar with his signature skull emblazoned on it, various passports, and about $60,000 in cash. He had walked out the door and was about to head out when he was saw something that surprised him.

Iron Man himself floated himself down to Frank's level. "Frank Castle, right? Let's have a chat."


	2. Chapter 2

"What the hell do you want?" Most people were excited to see the man in red and gold armor. Not Castle. Iron Man and his wide variety of friends represented the "law" that tried so hard to keep him from keeping up his one man war with mobs worldwide.

"Jarvis, pull up everything we've got on Frank Castle."

"Of course sir. Frank Castle. Nicknamed "the Punisher". Distinguished Navy SEAL. Three terms in Iraq from Persian Gulf War to 2005. Became a vigilante when his wife and two children were killed by members of the Gambino crime family. Since there, he's racked up over 500 known kills of criminals all over the world. Feng Jintao, two of the five Kapalkin brothers, half of the Shining Path in Peru, and a prominent Apartheid politician in South Africa among the more notable. Why haven't you met this guy yet, sir?"

"Because you don't damn want to," Frank was really pissed. He had more urgent matters to attend to.

"Well, I met you now," said Stark, with the tone of voice he usually used around hostile people. "Anyways, I know you don't have a lot of time so I'll make this quick."

"It better."

"I want to join my company and help me and the Avengers fight HYDRA."

Frank laughed. "Why would I ever do that? I work  _alone_ , dammit. Are you able to give any incentives?"

"Well, you'll meet Captain America and Thor, for starters."

"And?" He had little business for feel-good public response guys like the Avengers.

"Well, you get complete access to my armory and every cool gadget and toy I've got for Spec Ops guys like you."

"You got anything better? I got all I need in this sports bag."

"Tony thought for a moment. "Ok, shifting gears for a moment. You know what's among that body count of yours? Twenty police officers."

"Corrupt men and women. They deserved what they got-"

"And three SHIELD agents."

Frank froze.

SHIELD had been on his ass longer and more vehemently that any other government or UN organization with a bone to pick with him. They were highly organized in their manhunts and made his life miserable. The FBI, Interpol, and MI6 he could handle and make go away. But SHIELD? They were relentless. And wasn't Tony Stark working with SHIELD to combat various threats to him? Then again, SHIELD was in chaos after that little attempted coup Alexander Pierce pulled off. Frank had considered paying the man a visit even before HYDRA revealed itself. Now, back to talking to the world's most arrogant billionaire.

"Why do you care about what happens to SHIELD agents? Especially after everything that went down in DC?"

"Well, for starters, I did my homework. Those guys weren't run of the mill rent-a-cops. They were HYDRA. You know who they are?"

"I've done my homework too. I'm not an idiot."

"If you were, I wouldn't be here, now would I?" Stark couldn't resist.

"You little-"

"Hold on big guy. I'm offering you a chance not to be put in the firing range of these people and be the one doing the firing instead. As a I see it, you've got two options. You can continue being a lone wolf, and maybe one day it'll catch up to you-"

Suddenly Frank's Mustang exploded in a ball of fire. Iron Man ducked for cover from the debris. Frank didn't. He was mostly unfazed.

Smoke grenades followed, but first there was a flashbang grenade. After the smoke cleared, there were four men approaching, wearing gas mask and tactical body armor, coming at them. One held the grenade launcher that blew up the car. The others had F2000s: nasty Belgian assault rifles that, in the right hands, could take out a herd of angry lions.

All four had a familiar badge of a skull sprouting tentacles. HYDRA. It was HYDRA trying to kill two birds with one stone.

"Might want to get behind me," said Iron Man has he focused his reactors on the man carrying the grenade launcher. The rest opened fire but couldn't make a dent in the Mark VI armor. Frank, on the other hand, had other plans for dealing with the attackers.

Frank rolled towards the first man, quickly snatched the F2000 from his hands, and whacked the assassin's forehead. After that, Frank aimed at the grenade assailant, who was recovering from Stark's attack, and shot him clean in the head.

The other two men were firing. Frank took cover in the ruins of the Mustang. He rose to fire, and a couple of bullets hit Frank. But they either didn't penetrate the Kevlar, or else he was able to tolerate the pain like he always had. With an amazed Tony watching, Frank pulled out a grenade and threw it towards the other two men. It exploded, killing one of them and sending the other flying. Frank ran to where he'd been sent and grabbed him by his shoulders.

"Alright asshole, time to talk. You speak English?"

"Odsečena jednu glavu , dve više-"

"Sorry, don't speak douchebag." The Punisher grabbed a Ka-Bar knife from his belt and stuck it deep in the man's thigh. After wincing in pain for a few seconds, the assassin recovered himself.

"B-Baron V-Von Strucker sent us… but he kill me if I talk-"

"I'll make this quick." Frank turned the man's neck a good ninety degrees. Done.

"Goddammit," said Stark. He was hoping for a better leak of HYDRA secrets. Still. From his research and what he'd just seen from Frank, he wanted this man on his team. "I was hoping to get a little bit more out of him, you know. Weren't you trained in CIA interrogation techniques anyhow?"

"That's right. And I can tell when a man won't talk anymore."

"So… that's it? You just kill anyone who's no long of use?"

"Pretty much."

"Well…" Iron Man offered a gauntleted hand." I like that."

"Thank you." Frank shook his continuing his life's work with others wasn't such a bad thing after all. "Come to think of it, I could use some friends for a change. But I have a few requirements."

"Name them." Stark thought these wouldn't be so bad.

"First, I want this safe house untouched. Second, I want unlimited access to every single thing in your arsenal. And third, I want the job of head of security in Stark Tower, or whatever the hell that job is."

Although Frank couldn't see it behind the Iron Man helmet, Tony Stark had a blank face. "Those first two can be bought with all the money in the world, but that third job's been filled. By an exceptional woman also a fugitive, though in different circumstances. I'll see what I can do. Let's go to the tower first."

Frank nodded. "But how the hell do I fly with you?"

"You don't,", said Iron Man as he hovered above. "But I'll have one of my butlers ready to take you in less than ten minutes. Pack what you need. I'm assuming that's not very much." With that Stark zoomed off to the tower.

_Unknown location, presumably Sokovian-Serbian border, Eastern Europe_

"Get it done. I don't care how many strings you need to pull. I want him found. Is that absolutely clear?"

Baron Wolfgang von Strucker waited for the pathetic reply, then said "Good, Don't call back again until it's done. " He hung up from the disposable phone that he'd assigned for contacts in America.

Idiots. Four former Serbian special forces men couldn't take out one little Navy SEAL. Granted, Iron Man was there to help. But the report was that Iron Man was a passerby at best. Like he was watching Frank Castle for ajob interview.

Frank Castle. What a thorn he'd indirectly been to HYDRA's side for the past few years.

But not for much longer.  _The Punisher is nothing more than just another man_ , thought Baron von Strucker.  _And like all men, he is mortal. And mortal men can die like anyone else._


	3. Chapter 3

Frank was already having second thoughts about all of this, but true to Tony's word a fancy limo arrived not ten minutes after Stark had promised it would. What the hell, he figured as he packed his stuff in and set off on a drive through New York City.

They drove by Hell's Kitchen. Still a cesspool of scum and corruption, Frank just hoped that there was someone to watch the area while he was gone.

The limo pulled over right in front of Stark Tower. It had gone through a major revamp since the last time Frank had seen it up close. As he took out his bags and tipped the driver, Tony Stark and a redhead woman came towards him from the door. "Ah yes, Ms. Potts, I'd like you to meet Frank Castle. Newest head of security for Stark Tower."

"Pleased to meet you." Pepper and Frank shook hands. "Though I'm not sure Ms. Hill will be overly excited for that."

"She'll work with it. I'm sure the rest of the team will," said Stark. "Come on; let's take a tour of the new tower. People pay small fortunes for tours."

They started in the atrium. Large, compact and modern. "This actually didn't suffer too much during the battle for New York. The only real addition was elevators for…"

An elevator suddenly opened. A large, muscular man with long blonde hair rushed out and grabbed Tony in a bear hug.

"…this."

"Stark!" Thor was overjoyed to see Tony again. "Good to see you've arrived back in one piece." He broke the hug and looked at Frank Castle. They were roughly the same size. "Who's this?"

"Frank Castle, meet Thor. Straight out of Norse mythology, Thor, meet Frank Castle, newest addition to Stark security." said Tony Stark. "Thor's probably the strongest guy in one state."

"One state?"

"Well, Let's go to the science floors and show you. " The three of them got in the elevator and pressed floor 30. In fifteen seconds (Frank timed it with his watch) the door opened to a laboratory type room. It was decked out with various interactive touch screens, reverse-prototypes of Iron Man suits and what was labeled "Ultron" on one side, under construction. In the center was an interactive map of the tower and New York in general. Dr. Bruce Banner was monitoring it.

Bruce looked up to see the three who had just walked in. "So you're the new guy that Stark's been telling me about." He shook hands with Castle. "Dr. Bruce Banner. You must be the guy they call the Punisher. Your work against organized crime is… pragmatic, to say the least."

Frank just stared at him.

"Yeah he's not one for many words. Anyways, Frank, Banner here is the strongest person in the building, but only when angry. I recommend you not piss him off. It usually doesn't end well."

"Not true," said Banner. "I did save New York."

"Causing tons of collateral damage. You'd be facing lawsuits from half the city's other billionaires if they didn't respect me and my army of lawyers. Finish the reverse energy phasers for the Ultron arms, would you Bruce? I gotta get this guy settled in with Hill upstairs."

'Good luck with that." Banner returned to his work. Next up on the floor two stories above was the gym, a swimming pool, and the armor. The three found Captain America bench pressing well over 500 pounds in weights.

Tony waited until Steve finished his reps and put up the weights. "Hey Cap, I'd like you to meet Frank Castle. He's an expert in firearms and tracking, and he'll be helping us take out HYDRA bases. By the way, have I ever seen you outside this gym ever since I took you in?"

"I don't think so," said Cap. "I'm not the guy that needs a social life."

"Yeah, Romanoff told me all about that. Speaking of which, I'm taking Clint and Thor club-hopping tonight, and we'd love to have you join us."

"I got no plans tonight. I guess."

"Good." Tony patted Steve on the back. "See you then. Frank, this place looks fun, but you'll want to see the armory for yourself.' Thor went off to challenge Steve's records in weight lifting while Tony took Frank to the armory.

Frank was impressed. He maintained several armories worldwide but nothing on the scale that Stark had ready for him. Every rifle, explosive, handgun, and even a few vehicles lined up and ready for use. There was even a personal Iron Man suit in grey in the center. "At your disposal. You probably won't need the suit though. That's more of my style that yours." Another blank stare from Castle speaking  _hurry on with this_. Very well then.

Finally they reached the top floor. Another lounge area, with a bar and several target practice areas. They were pincushioned with arrows. They found Hawkeye firing arrow after arrow. An attractive brunette was keeping score and timing.

"Hey guys," said Stark. "I'd like you to meet Frank Castle."

Both of them froze.

Unknown to Tony, Hawkeye and Maria Hill had been two of the people Nick Fury counted on the most in his missions to try capture and detain the Punisher. Failure after failure had incurred the wrath of Fury, and that was never something to be desired. And here Castle was. After years of searching, they found the Punisher because Tony Stark just happened to give him a front-row seat to the big show.

And Tony could tell there was tension. "Well, while you people are having a staring contest, I'm going to go down to the lab and go help Banner. Have fun," he remarked as the elevator.

Clint Barton broke the uneasy silence. "Aren't you a sight for these sore eyes."

"I could say the same thing about you," said Frank.

"I cannot believe Tony's just going to bring a man he knows is a cold blooded killer and ask him to join the Avengers," said Hill. "After everything SHIELD did to tag you-"

"Excuse me? When did Stark Industries become SHIELD 2.0?"

"Since when did law-breaking vigilantes get to join the Avengers on a moment's notice?" snarled Hawkeye.

"I don't know about that, but I've probably done more to preserve world peace than SHIELD with all its moles and turncoats."

The reference to HYDRA stung Clint hard. "You know, you might be a tough guy, but you better stop acting like you're better than us because you're a murderer."

"Yeah, well I could say the same thing about you. Just ask Loki, he-"

Clint swung at Frank, but Frank easily blocked out and began his usual style of fist-fighting. He was prepared to knock the living daylights out of Hawkeye when Hill stepped in.

"Enough, both of you! Clint, I know Castle's not the guy we want joining the team, but this is Stark's call and we work for him. And Frank, Tony might have a soft spot for you, but we don't so get used to it. This isn't what Fury would have wanted, Clint."

Both men recovered. Hawkeye stormed off. "I actually preferred it when Fury was around giving orders. Now stop staring at me, You guys going to watch me take a piss too or what?" With that he left to go to the restroom, slamming doors as he did.

"Sorry about that," said Hill. "Clint's been taking the fall of SHIELD and Nick Fury's death pretty hard. But this does not mean I was taking your side either."

"Like I didn't see that coming." Frank had to admit, she was pretty attractive. "An Nick Fury's not dead, is he?"

Hill looked confused. "He died during HYDRA's takeover-"

"Nope. You're giving a bunch of subtle sights of lying. Don't do that anymore. I can tell very quickly when someone's lying. Anyone else know about this?"

Maria gulped. "Just Rogers. No one else, not even Clint or Tony. You have to promise me you'll keep it this way."

"Of course. Trust me, I have much more pressing secrets than knowing whether a master spy is dead or not." Frank looked out the windows to his left, taking in the New York skyline. "Tell me, how do two of the top agents SHIELD had in its arsenal turn to an anti-government person like Stark?"

"When Romanoff leaked everything to the public (Frank was well aware of this) I knew I would be on someone's shit list, so I turned to the one person I knew with enough money to keep them away. Clint was more difficult. Tony had JARVIS track down his whereabouts to a safe house in Canada, similar to you, and talked him into coming here. He still works for me; I'm head of security at Stark Tower now."

"Not exactly anymore,' said Frank. "You work for me now. Stark made me the new boss. Go and find him if you doubt it." It just so happened that Clint walked back from taking a leak, along with Tony, Thor, and Steve. "Well, the gang's all here-"

He noted Maria giving him a hard stare and then pointing at the Punisher. "Did you seriously just give that guy my job?!"

"What?" It took a few seconds for Stark to remember the deal he made with Frank. "Well, yes. I need this guy, Hill. He's one of the best at tracking people."

Hill rolled her eyes while Castle smirked. Hawkeye still looked angry.  _I'll have to have a talk with him_ , thought Tony.

"Alright, so here's the plan," said Tony. "I want to begin going after HYDRA tomorrow. But today, well that's still free. I've got Steve, Thor, and Clint going club hopping with me tonight. Hill, Frank, either of y'all want to take the night off and have some company with us?"

Frank grunted, while Maria replied "Sure boss, why not."

"Actually," Stark said, pointing at Steve, "he'll be the boss starting tomorrow. Of course I still pay for and design everything. Get suited everyone. We leave after dinner."

_Several hours later, New York night club_

Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Maria Hill, and Frank Castle walked up in the VIP line for the club. This one was new and extremely expensive, and in other circumstances Frank would have gotten in by sheer force. But for now, Stark's money and influence bought them tickets inside for the night. For now.

As they entered, a man hesitated to pull out his phone. His contact answered his call from a pay phone five blocks away. "Yes?"

"Castle is here. Along with the all Avengers save Banner. Request permission to unleash the Wild Hounds."

"Wild Hounds is a go." The other man hung up, then dialed the number to reach Baron Von Strucker. He could call safely; in less than half an hour the Avengers - plus the Punisher, quite a nice bonus - would be dead.


	4. Chapter 4

The club was blasting. It was the opening night, and Swedish House Mafia had reunited to give a show there. Many of New York's finest – or in this case, not so fine anymore – were busy partying away, dancing and drinking their worldly concerns away.

The partying wasn't limited to the ordinary citizens. Being celebrities here, the Avengers were bombarded by fans and passerbys trying to get an autograph or selfie with one of them. The bar was surrounded by even more fans, with Thor having to literally lift people out of their seats to get them for the group. From there, the various members did their thing Tony challenged Thor to several rounds of shots. Natasha tried in vain to get Steve to ask a girl, any single girl, to dance with him. And Clint was actively getting wasted and still managing to grind himself away with a woman just as passed as he was.

Which left Frank and Maria Hill to themselves. To everyone else, Frank looked bored in his dark trenchcoat.

As for Hill… Frank just thought she was stunning. She'd picked a body-tight red dress to showed off every curve on her body. Her was let loose from its bun and allowed to flow down to her shoulders. Mer makeup was done minimally, but with maximum effect.

It couldn't hurt to talk to her. "You know, you look good. I don't tell that to many people."

"Thanks. You're not looking to bad yourself, big guy. You want a drink or something?"

"No thanks," replied Castle. "Been sober for two years now. Helps me to forget the pain of losing them…" Frank was going to continue when Clint Barton stumbled into them.

"Hey Maria," said Clint, words slurred like someone highly intoxicated. "Did you fall from the sky, cause you've got titties…"

'Jesus Christ." Hill turned to Frank. "You wanna do something about him?"

Frank didn't reply. Instead, he took Clint's latest bottle, pocketed it, and began to walk towards the exit. "Thor," Frank called for the Asgardian, as Tony wasn't holding up much better. "I'm dragging this drunk out to pass out. He looks drugged. I'd keep an eye on Stark if I was you."

"Oh please," replied the god of thunder. "Tony just needs to let some steam out once a while, don't you my friend?" A drunk Tony Stark made some kind of reply that equated to yes.

Disgusted, Frank took Hawkeye out of the bar. "You know, Barton, you might be an asshole, but I'm not adding drunk-in-need to the list of things that you could be." Clint didn't reply. After putting Hawkeye in the back seat of the car. Frank alarmed himself. He knew they were here: the Wild Hounds.

The Wild Hounds all had similar backgrounds to Frank Castle: ex-special forces and nasty. What separated them the Punisher is that they devoted their services for the highest bidder. Not a shred of morality among any of them.

It took Frank a couple of seconds to formulate his plan for dealing with these three around the car. Others would have to be dealt with later.

The first man got up close enough to enact the battle plan. Frank turned around lightning fast, whipped out his pistol and shot the first man dead. This led the other two to open fire in the parking lot, causing a commotion that made the bystanders flee as quickly as they could. Frank's Kevlar held up long enough for him to drag the second Hound out of hiding. He smashed the Hound's face against a car window until he didn't get up from it. The third Hound was a sniper, and was sending bullets flying at Frank. However, Frank's Kevlar continued to hold up, and he fired enough bullets in the sniper's direction to send up falling to the ground. After searching for any more attackers, Frank deduced that more bad guys would be in the club. He quickly locked Barton in car with a pistol and set of bow and arrows.

"Stay in there," he said to Hawkeye as the Punisher raced back to the club to get the rest of the Avengers out of this shit storm.

As he expected, people were fleeing en masse to get out of the club. Frank had to shoot another merc's necks before he found Steve and Natasha among the crowd. "Tell me what happened," he demanded as he shook up Captain America.

"At least ten men, taking hostages and demanding you surrender yourself. We came to find you."

"Well, now you did. Don't you two have guns on you at least?"

Natasha nodded; Steve shook his head. Frank gave him one of the dead men's guns. "Alright, let's kill these sons of bitches."

Lying low, the three of them took in the situation. There were four mercs at the DJ's station, taking SHM hostage. A fourth man, presumably the leader, was making his demands out loud.

"Frank Castle, reveal yourself or these men die!" barked a heavy German accent. A dozen or so more men stood around the club, ready to shoot anyone who tried to get out.

"Alright, here's the plan," whispered Captain America. "We need to get Tony first, he's passed out by now and Thor-"

"Bullshit. We're taking the bastards dead on," snapped Frank as he delivered a clean headshot to the lead hostage taker. The others panicked and opened fire in Frank's direction. He, Black Widow, and Captain America ducked for cover and began to return fire. Each of them took out one mercenary before the Punisher suddenly darted for the bar. Steve and Natasha wondered why, but quickly saw the reason: Tony was about to be grabbed by one of the goon squad. A couple of well-placed bullets on Frank's part put an end to that.

Frank then turned to Thor, who was easily wrestling another mercenary. "I need you to get him out of here as fast as you fucking can. Put him in the car with Barton. Steve and Natasha will cover you. Go, GO!" Thor scooped Stark up and got them out of the club while Frank scanned his surroundings. "Where's Maria…"

Another gunshot, another bad guy down. Frank turned around and found Maria Hill with a gun pointing at him. "Thanks, I owe you one," he said as she joined the others in fighting off the Wild Hounds. Then he spotted on of them struggling to get up. Time for a different approach, thought Frank as he dragged the wounded man to the restroom and slammed his head against the tile counter.

"Ok shithead, who's paying for this little stunt?"

"I ain't telling you nothing, piece of sh-"

Frank pressed the barrel of the gun really hard into the man's temple. "Might want to change that attitude, or someone's going to clean you up like you were piss."

Another bang against the sink, and eventually the man started to talk. "We were contacted via email. Said they were HYDRA, but they were untraceable. Ten million to get us on the job and another thirty million for each Avenger we could kill. Double money for you. That's all I know, I swear on my life!" You'll have to ask Steiner about specifics, and he'd dead thanks to you-"

Bang. A shot in the leg. He's not dying just yet. Let the Avengers take their turn. Let them know what's they're being dragged into.

Taking the assassin outside, Frank found that the dust had settled. Maria, Steve, and Romanoff had killed or apprehended the rest of the attackers. Of more troubling notice were a number of civilian causalities scattered about, with paramedics rushing to get them into ambulances. Thor walked, aghast, and looked at Frank. "Where are you going with him?"

"Answers. I know he didn't tell me everything he could about this. I'll need materials from the tower. Meet me there." With that, Frank slammed the wounded man in the trunk and drove off in the distance.

* * *

"So, what the hell happened?"

Tony Stark was recovering to his senses.  _Good_ , thought Frank _. Let's see if he can make the right calls_.

"You and Barton passed out. Highly armed mercenaries came to kill us. I saved your asses."

"I also recall you putting the lives of dozens of people at risk," barked Steve.

"What were you going to do, big guy? I don't recall you taking your shield on a night out." Steve went quiet, wanting to be right, but silently admitting Frank was correct in this situation.

"You signed up to take down HYDRA, not provoke them into attacking innocents."

"Collateral damage is a part of every war, Captain. Even you must realize that. I keep it to a minimum. Now see if Barton is awake yet. I want his arrows something."

Frank filled in Tony on the details while they made their way down to a makeshift holding cell. In it were a couple of the attackers from last night. Black Widow stepped out from the nearest cell.

"I don't think they're taking the good cop approach very seriously," she said to Frank. "Do what you have to," she said motioning to his box of "tools" sitting on a table.

"All right. Turn off the security feeds and lock the doors behind me. This is going to be messy."

Five minutes later, Frank walked on out, bloody knuckles and grimy forearms. "Not hard at all," he remarked. "The stick and arrow trick, given enough preparation, works every time. Of course you may want to get someone to renovate the room now that it's done."

"What'd you get out of him?" asked Stark. He'd deal with clean-up later.

"A name, for starters. This guy was a gold mine, he turned out to be the HYDRA handler for those mercs. Baron Von Strucker. Someone look it up.

Natasha typed away on her phone for files. "Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker. German billionaire. Family made a fortune funding both sides of the Napoleonic Wars, and the family proceeded to do that for every major European war since. Had ties to Alexander Pierce and his father was an assistant of the Red Skull."

"Anything else?" asked Stark.

"The guy gave a list of HYDRA bases in Eastern Europe. Romania, Greece, Sokovia, and Albania. We'll take them out one by one. Whenever you're ready, Mr. Stark."

Of course. And I just wanted to say thank you. You saved our asses last night, even if it was by unorthodox means."

"I didn't sign up for free food and cupcakes," remarked the Punisher. "I'm going to check on Barton."

Clint Barton was in the bed in his suite on the top floor, unconscious. Thor, Maria Hill, and Pepper Potts were all keeping watch on his BAC levels, which were higher than expected. "How's he doing?"

"Better," answered Hill. "Your suspicions were right. He was probably drugged. You probably saved his life." Nods from Potts and Thor confirmed this

"Someone else owes me one. That seems to be a theme around here."

"Only men of courage and strength are like that," quoted Thor, "though I repudiate how you put all those Midgardians at risk."

"That seems to be a theme around here too. Watch some war documentaries and you'll see things how I do." Thor left to go to the gym, and Potts had to respond to a call from some lawyer, leaving Hill and Castle to themselves again.

"Good thing you were sober the whole time last night," remarked Hill. "How do you do it? I mean, going without alcohol. We're not all drunks here but you weren't even tempted."

"Booze takes my mind off focus. After my family died, I hit the bottle hard. Took me a year to realize it wasn't helping any."

"About your family. What happened to them?"

Frank regretted telling her that last night. "They were killed in a mob shootout. Corrupt cops did nothing so I did. The rest is no one's business." With that he walked out and into the firing range to hone his sniping skills.

_Diclaimer: I obviously don't own any of these characters. They all belong to Marvel._


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, Frank Castle woke early for a workout, just like any other day before the Avengers. He put another twenty pounds on each side of the bar, then proceeded to lift it up to his shoulders. It hurt like a bitch, all 250 pounds of it.

He proceeded to do thirty reps.

As he was taking a water break, Tony walked up to him. "Morning, Frank," he said as he filled his own water bottle. "You're up really early today. No one else but me does that."

After diagnosing the drugs the Wild Hounds had slipped in Barton's drinks, the team decided, as a whole, to halt their HYDRA missions another day. This was to give Barton time to recover, as well as plan what exactly how they were going to spend two weeks in Eastern Europe. Nearly every intelligence organization in the area, along with some Russian and Middle Eastern groups, was on a manhunt for every HYDRA/SHIELD agent they could get their hands on. Needless to say, it was going to take some effort.

"I got nothing better to do. Do you?"

"Yeah," he answered. "Like, planning how we're going to take out the Albanian base first."

"I thought the Captain wanted to go to Sokovia first."

"That was the plan, but there's a problem," said Tony. "There's a ton of riots there every day, not to mention the third coup this year. We think this one is HYDRA backed, so every cop in that country would be on our asses if we went there."

Frank understood. "And why Albania?"

"Well, the Albanian police aren't actively hunting our allies, so that's got to be a plus." Tony went to the bar and examined. "The base we want to attack is actually a series of pillboxes from the Cold War. Each will have to be cleaned out individually."

"Anything else?"

"Nope, just gotta talk with the crew before we actually head out." Tony paused, then spoke again. "Don't take Maria or Clint too hard. You saved their lives, but they're still pissed about having SHIELD – their lives – fall apart and having you join us. Just do your best to be friendly, that's what I'd recommend." At that moment Clint walked in, dressed in usual attire of sleeveless vest and black jeans.

"Speak of the devil for the second time…" said Stark.

"Beautiful to see you to, Tony," replied Clint. He picked up his bow and let loose an arrow, hitting a bulls eye on the other side of the room.

Tony's phone rang. "Jesus, Pepper, when did everyone wake up at seven?" He went into the other alleyway to take the call while Hawkeye and Castle continued their regimes.

Halfway through Frank's set of bench presses, Hawkeye came up to him. "Hey, can we talk for a moment?"

"You're doing that."

"I want to apologize for trying to whack you the other day." Frank thought that Hawkeye was being coerced to give this apology. "I thinking about myself, not the team-"

"Did Stark put you up to that?"

"No. Maria did." Barton fired off another arrow without even looking it its direction. "She, by the way, forgives you too. Almost as if she's getting a soft spot for you, and that rarely happens, especially for a pompous ass-"

"Watch yourself, kid."

"Oh come on now, big guy, you can't be that old either."

"Old enough to know fare more things that you do." He suddenly swung Barton around and put a knife to his throat. "Number one rule of being a vigilante: never let your guard down."

"Damn," exclaimed Barton. "You're gonna have to teach me some of that."

"We've got an hour before Stark's briefing. I guess I can show you a thing or two."

As he taught Hawkeye, Frank came to actually admire the 'kid'. He was all brawn with a little bit of brain, but given time, he might make a worthy associate. A friend, even.

* * *

"Alright, call it, Cap."

"Stark, we'll want this pillbox first," said Steve. The group was all around one of the interactive screens in the lab. Here they would plan their strategy. "We cross their fences here, then begin sabotage and disrupt until HYDRA forces discover us. Then we do what we do best, and-"

"This is nice and all, Captain," interrupted Frank, "but you're making a crucial mistake."

All eyes on him. Lovely.

"No disrespect, Cap, but here's why you're wrong." He zoomed in on several small buildings, one next to each pillbox. "If my eyes don't deceive me, these buildings have a double function: defense and communication. If we just walk right in without bothering to disable them, we'll be waltzing straight into an ambush or a trap. We need to disable them first." Heads and eyes around the screen indicated he was getting somewhere.

"Well, if you do that," said Banner, "that means attacking from the ground isn't really an option. The pillboxes are located on high ground, and their cameras can probably reach the base of the lower ground. What would you do then?"

'Easy. We attack from the one direction they won't spot us from."

"Which is?" asked Stark.

"Above. You have a Quinjet, don't you, Stark?"

* * *

Hours later, two planes took off from New York. One was a C-130 Hercules that Frank had acquired from a now-deceased drug cartel boss. In it was the Quinjet. The other was Stark's private Gulfstream G650, with and all the armor, weapons, and miscellaneous equipment that the Avengers would use. Frank and Natasha piloted the C-130, while the rest retreated to the comforts of Stark's jet.

"You fight, kill, _and_ pilot," commented Black Widow, chewing on some chips. "Why didn't you join SHIELD or something with all your talents? They'd take your skills with open arms."

"I considered it after my last tour in the Middle East, but figured I'd try settling down for a change. I proposed to my girlfriend when I got off the plane from Baghdad. The black market there is as big as the desert, and you can find anything there for the right price and with enough anonymity." He rotated the two wedding rings on his left hand, but never lost focus on piloting.

Frank expected the age-old question, and then he got it. "What happened to her?" asked Romanoff.

Frank sighed. At least the Black Widow was calm and understanding. Unlike most people that he'd told this to. He went over how he and his wife Maria had two kids, how he'd gotten a new job in mall security in Manhattan, and then how they'd been gunned down in cold blood to avoid leaving witnesses.

"I'm sorry," said Black Widow, never leaving removing her gazes from the front window.

Frank was silent for a moment.

Natasha broke the silence. "You see, I've never actually had one of those. A relationship I mean. Never had the time to do it with my type of work. In my opinion, love is for little boys and girls."

"What about Barton?" He'd heard about the two of them, from Clint recruiting Natasha to the battle in Budapest.

"He and I were close for a time, but even we couldn't keep a real relationship going with all our assignments, the discovery of HYDRA, and the rest. Still, I guess you have to experience love at least once before you can decide on what you want for it. It's a step above Hill at least."

"Explain."

"She's the perfect example of the cold career bitch. Everything about her screams rules and regulation. Never relaxed. That reminds me of you, actually."

That made Frank raise an eyebrow.

"I thought she and Cap might be a good match, seeing how they've got similar values and such. Nope. She won't melt her heart for anyone, not even America's poster boy. "Natasha reached for a pack of gum. "Want one?"

"Sure." It was watermelon. Yum yum.

"Anyways," continued Black Widow, "Maria's been taking the fall of SHIELD just as hard as the rest of us. Tony's not exactly her favorite person, but as long as he's providing legal defense and a cash flow she's staying. She could use someone like you. Platonically speaking of course." The Black Widow got up. "I'm going to throw this food away. At this rate I won't be fit for combat. Pilot's aircraft."

"Pilot's aircraft," replied Frank as he pondered over everything Natasha and he had talked about. _Was the woman Natasha talking about such a hard ass, or was there more than meets the eye?_ Women.

* * *

Frank and Natasha got to Albania first. They loaded the C-130 in a private hangar and hid the Quinjet there for the time being. The Gulfstream, on the other hand, landed in Tirana International Airport. They then followed the procedure laid out by Frank beforehand. The suits, weapons, and such were brought out in locked steel flightcases emblazoned with the Stark Industries logo on them. Aside from Tony and Maria, everyone had a false passport supplied by Frank. Import duties were paid on the "product" contained in the flightcases. Bribes were also paid whenever required, and they were required a lot. That way, airport officials were disincentivised from running a facial scan on anyone or from opening the flightcases to make sure what was stated on the computer docket – components for keeping missile systems in basic working order – matched what actually lay inside.

From there, it was a road journey to the site of engagement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be sure to give kudos/comment/bookmark if you're enjoying this. Knowing I'm entertaining you guys makes me happy.


	6. Chapter 6

"Are we really doing this sound off, Stark?"

"Yes, and you're going to like it, Romanoff," replied Stark. To minimize attention, he and Bruce were staying behind in the Quinjet with Hill to coordinate tactics. "Hulk, Hill and Iron Man are a go."

"Thor here, I'm ready."

"Captain America is a go."

"Black Widow is a go, I suppose."

"Hawkeye is a go."

And last but not least, there was Frank Castle. "Punisher is a go."

"Good work team." Tony made a mocking clap. "Let's go back to kicking ass."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Bring the jet right above the building. Enable camouflage mode," ordered the Punisher as the jet moved in position. Silently, first Thor, then Rogers, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and finally Frank got off, minimizing contact with the ground to avoid detection.

Hawkeye opened a duffel bag with some small drones. "These were a gift from Rhodey, so try not to get them banged up," said Stark. The drones were about the size of a hand and were supported in the air by four small fans for levitation. They had cameras Stark could monitor from the Quinjet for potential threats once the team got in the bunker.

Next, Frank pulled out a block of C4 and placed it on what appeared to be a hatch that led to the inside of the security room. "Might want to hold your ears," he said, though he didn't do it himself. After a loud explosion ripped the hatch off, panicked voices in Russian could be heard from inside. Frank took a grenade and tossed it in, and the shouting was no more.

They went in to clean out the bunker. It looked smaller from the outside, because the room was quite large, with security feeds around the room showing views of the Cold War era bunker, the surrounding countryside, and even a few screens devoted to a soccer game. It was Greece vs. Serbia. "This can't be all of it," wondered Captain America as the team inspected the room closer. For all purposes, this room was isolated from whatever it was watching out for.

"Maybe not," said Frank as he curiously tapped a large metal square on the lefthand side of the room. "Not thin enough for a conventional explosive. Hey Thor, how good is that hammer of yours?"

"Very." Thor bent down on one knee and knocked Mjolnir quite hard against the metal. Sure enough, it sent the rectangle – that was the only way to describe it after it was detached – down what appeared to be a forty foot long hatch with a ladder. "Imma send in a drone first," said Stark from the earpieces. "See if the coast is clear for you guys." Off went the first drone, and down it went into the tunnel and out the other side. "Oh shit."

"What happens to be the problem?"

"Well, Clint, the outside bunker's not what we're looking for," answered Stark. "It appears to be a front for a very large underground faculty. Drone's sending you the blueprints now." It appeared on one of the security room screens. "Lots of armed hostiles as well, and it's only a matter of time until they find out what's happened."

"So much for the silent treatment," said Rogers. "We going to have to do this the hard way Frank?"

"You mean my original Plan A? Hell yea."

Frank went down first. Using the drone, the others could tell whether a hostile was passing or not. This way, Frank could drop down quietly. While he admitted that they would be going loud very soon, he preferred to have the element of surprise at least. The rest of the Avengers followed suit. When Clint, the last of them, was just about to hit the ground, a patrol of HYDRA men came walking around.

"Shit, we got the Avengers and-"

"An arrow went in the man before he could finish his sentence. His friend followed suit. After that, red lights began wailing and an emergency overcast in Serbian came over the speakers.

"It's time." Frank loaded his Glock and M4A1. "Which way to the enemy command center?"

"Looks like you'll need to take two left turns and – Frank, you've got four more coming that way."

"Leave it to me." Frank dropped them with a hail of bullets. "Clear. This way." The team moved as one, with Thor moving behind Rogers with the shield as defense, while the other three moved in an arrowhead formation behind them. "Stark, where's the drone now?" asked Black Widow.

''You've got some sort of recreation room, bathrooms, and- shit, the drone just went down. They shot it up."

"Great, we're going in blind," groaned Rogers.

'Not to fear, big boy, I've got you're back." said Frank. Then a smoke grenade was sent flying in their direction, followed by a hail of bullets. The team proceeded to move around to avoid them, and counterattack. Captain America knocked one goon with the shield and sent another flying right into Frank's face. He tried to get up, but the Punisher plugged him fast and without mercy. From the right side of the room, Black Widow and Hawkeye were doing the same, plugging the bad guys fast and clean. It looked like it was going to be a conventional firefight when suddenly a burst of lightning erupted from the center of the room, shocking all of the HYDRA men remaining and knocking them out.

"Damn it Thor, you could have hurt one of us with that," said an alarmed Tony Stark from the earpiece.

"Sorry my friend, I am not used to unleashing Mjolnir's power in such a confined space." The five went out the door...

And into a massive, multistory atrium. There were at least three floors. "It'll take too long to find which one is the one we need," said Black Widow. "And this writing is in Albanian, not Russian or Serbian."

"Get the other drone out," said Banner, "and have it scan the sign." The translation appeared in Tony's screen on the Quinjet. "Information, third floor. That's where I would head if I were you guys."

The stairs were to the left of the large atrium. Captain America went first keep bullets ricocheting away, with Clint taking the rear.

Suddenly Frank spotted something. "Snipers in the windows! Get down!"

The glass handrails provided some protection from the newest hail of lead, but it didn't last long as the glass broke. Frank's arm took a hit. He grimaced for a second, then gritted his teeth and fired back a full clip. "Do you ever feel pain?" asked Maria.

"Not physical pain," replied the Punisher as he delivered a clean headshot to one of the snipers. "Natasha, cover me as I jog up to the 3rd floor."

"Sure thing." Black Widow's Uzis shattered countless windows and punctured numerous wall as Frank, along with Thor and Captain America, raced up to the top of the stairs. On the third floor was another sign in Albanian that read Information. There were numerous doors. "Faster if everyone takes a door," said Captain America as he kicked in the nearest door in and proceeded to take out the men inside.

Have it your way." Frank pulled out another breaching charge, and let it rip.

Time appeared to slow down for Frank. He put a foot in the doorway, and noticed the two men with rifles first, struggling to regain their senses. They were the first to fall, followed by two more soldiers sitting in a bench. Two more men came in, one of them carrying a bazooka. These tow came dangerously close to firing, if it wasn't for some wild shots on Frank's part, which were lucky hits. Finally, Frank relaxed a tiny bit - the room had been cleared of armed hostiles - and approached the fifth man. He was sitting behind a computer. "Out of the way please," demanded Frank as the man scuttled away with a terrified look on his face. "Natasha," he said on his earpiece, "you sure each of these computers has tons of incriminating documents against the Albanian government and HYDRA activity?"

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't have gotten Stark to come here."

Frank ripped the computer from the wall and smashed it against the floor until it was unrecognizable.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few minutes later, Frank met up with the rest of the team in the atrium to discuss everything.

"All of the machines with incriminating evidence have been destroyed and burned," commented Thor, as if he was proud of it.

"Calm down buddy, this was just your first taste of HYDRA," said Stark. "And what are y'all going to do with that guy?"

Stark was referring to the timid man Frank had fished out of the room he had cleared. "I'll deal with this," he said as he picked up the man by the collar of his shirt.

"Please don't hurt me," groaned the man in a heavy accent. Frank's first response was to punch him straight in the nose.

"Frank, I don't think that's the best way to get information out of him-"

"Shut up Cap, I do my own think." The HYDRA man was on the brink of tears. "P-please. I have a family, a wife and two children-"

At the mentioning of the family, Frank sat him down in a chair. "You want to live buddy? Give me something about HYDRA. Anything, really."

"Alright, alright." He recovered to his senses. "There's a large Orthodox church in Belgrade, Saint Sava. It's really a front for the higher-ups in HYDRA to store the stuff they really don't want getting in enemy hands. What you destroyed here barely scratched the surface on what Von Strucker has on European governments."

'Good. If that's all run along now." The man muttered what could have been a hundred 'thanks' and ran off away from the Avengers.

"Good job team," said Captain America. "Now let's get back to the Quinjet and tell-"

Then the world exploded.


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing Frank Castle remembered after the explosion was a very consistent, yet overbearing ringing in his ears. He looked around fast and saw the floors that held the files were a mess of rubble. Then, pushing his hands against the gravel floor to get up, felt a wave of pain rush over his abdomen. He looked down.

The Kevlar armor was shredded. He was bleeding.

Usually he could take it, but not now. This was not good.

"Shit," he groaned as he ripped off the Kevlar and examined just how bad this injury was. It wasn't life threatening, but he'd need medical attention, preferably sooner than later. Good thing Clint Barton came into view not much longer. "They dropped the whole damn place."

"What?"

"I said, they blew it up! Probably a failsafe somewhere in the walls." Clint then saw Frank's injuries. "Come on old man," he said as he lifted him up to his feet and put him on his shoulders. "Thor and Nat are clearing a path for us."

They hobbled together, but Frank was able to hold his own in the walk back. "This fast enough for you, boy?" the Punisher asked as he pulled out a pistol and shot a wounded HYDRA agent trying to do the same thing.

"You have quite the pain tolerance, don't you?" asked Hawkeye. Frank could tell Captain Rogers, who was recovering his shield, was thinking the same thing.

"Let's just say that pain and I became friends a few years back. You don't get an omelet without breaking a few eggs."

"True, but that usually doesn't refer to self-harm," chipped in Captain America.

"You think I did this to myself, wonder boy?" barked Frank. Tony had prepped him for the reactions of a 20th century Steve Rogers, who was still trying to understand the 21st. He obviously didn't get the metaphor. Never mind. He could learn it later.

"Of course not, but I thought-"

"You thought I wasn't being analogous. Nope. This, by the way, reminds me of a lovely story that took place not too far from here. Venice, to be precise. I was ambushed and my captors thought a shot to the hand would keep me off their backs. Nope, they regretted it-"Another loud explosion. Frank almost fell out of Hawkeye's grasp.

"Another one of their dastardly men," said Thor, coming out of the tunnel that led back to the security room's ladder. "He said that he would grow another head before pressing that device. I do not see how he could possible do that, since he was-"

"It's a catchphrase of theirs. 'Cut off one head, two more shall grow in its place.' Can't say I'm a fan though." Black Widow had finished clearing the last hallway of any HYDRA stragglers. Like the rest of the Avengers, she quickly noticed Frank's wounds. "Holy shit, that looks nasty. Stark, get the Quinjet prepped ASAP. Frank's wounded, though by the looks of it he's taking it really well."

"Put him on my back," said Thor, easily the strongest man around. "I can carry him up the ladder better than any of y'all." Thor went first, taking the wounded Frank up to the Quinjet for medical attention. Bruce Banner's specialty wasn't paramedical surgery, but in a fix he was capable of it. "You should be screaming right now," commented Banner. "Hill, Stark, get those medical supplies. I'm going to have to give him some morphine before I stitch him up. Mr. Castle, I don't think this would got much deeper than soft tissue and a little internal bleeding, but I'm going to have to keep you down from moving about when the real pain sets in. You think you can handle that?"

"He appeared to do alright," said Hawkeye as he fired arrows at HYDRA stragglers trying to fire at the Quinjet as it departed. "I think that old man has a higher pain tolerance than the rest of us combined."

"Ok then, I'm not responsible for any grief that comes from this," replied Banner. "Hill, hold his arm down and give him this shot right here," he said pointing not far from where the largest exit wound was.

"You ready?" Hill asked Frank as Banner handed her the syringe. Frank could notice her noticing his abdominal physique.

"Do it," he responded. She stuck the needle in him, and the first thing he felt, oddly enough, was far more pain. "Fuck! That actually hurt."

"Stop being a little bitch." Hill's words were the last he heard before passing out.

* * *

When Frank woke up next, he was drowsy, and wasn't in nearly as much hurt as he was in the HYDRA bunker or the Quinjet. It looked like some kind of hotel room h was in, and he was stuck on a bed. He saw Hawkeye unloading his bows and arrows on the other bed.

"Afternoon, Frank," Clint said to him as he tossed Frank a bag with rifles, handguns, and a number of grenades. "Thought you might want to keep those. Check your belly, by the way." Frank did, and saw where there was once bleeding and rupturing, relatively little damage, aside from some very noticeable scars covered up by stiches and bandages.

"What the hell did Banner give me? Sure wasn't regular morphine."

Hawkeye chuckled. "That, my friend, is something you probably know, but what the hell, I trust you enough to tell you. It was Tetrodotoxine B."

"The hell is that?"

"Heart–rate suppressant Banner developed to try and keep his stress levels down. Had mixed results, but we've found other uses for it. For example, preforming a surgery Banner's no expert on. I'd say it did pretty well on you."

Frank just groaned.

"Anyways, Tony wants you to sit out on the next mission. They already went off into the Serbian countryside to roughen up some Serbian Army officers with ties to HYDRA. I'm just here to make sure you don't do anything stupid. "

"I trust you're not that big of a dumbass." Frank got more pissed. He lifted himself out of the bed and ripped off the bandages. A few drops of blood almost poured out, but Frank applied enough pressure to keep it under control. "Did Banner give you anything extra for this, Clint?"

"Yea, this. "Clint handed Frank a bottle of pills. "These are to keep those damn stiches from breaking anytime soon. And this," Clint tossed Frank a bottle of whiskey, "is for the pain."

Frank gulped a large shot of the whisky. "Did you choose to stay behind or did Stark make you?"

"Actually, I chose to stay behind," Barton said while pulling out a folder, "because I wanted to see if you're up for this."

Frank looked inside the folder. In it were recon photos of the Church of St. Sava. The same church that timid bookkeeper in Albania had puked out the secret to. "Why didn't you tell the others to go after this instead of wherever they've gone off to?"

"Because I figured you'd need something to pass the time while recovering," Clint said with a grin.

"Smart boy. Now here's how we're going to do this…"

* * *

The Church of St. Sava was laid out like a typical Eastern Orthodox Church. It was cross shaped, with a large gold plated dome about 250 feet high. Numerous Orthodox style icons surrounded an altar where a priest was preforming some kind of ceremony to himself. As Clint and Frank walked up to it, they noticed that the pews facing the central walkway were mostly empty, save for a few rough-looking types. Probably hired guns.

"My sons," the priest told the two Avengers in a heavy accent, "how might I help you?"

Without warning, Frank pulled out an Uzi and shot the "priest" in the leg, sending him down. The men in the pews attempted to retaliate, but Hawkeye swiftly drew half a dozen arrows and sent them tumbling down on the marble floor. Two more goons appeared on the balcony to the back, but Hawkeye took them down even faster.

"Son of a bitch!" yelled the fake man of God. "Do you know who you're messing with?" he demanded of Frank Castle.

Frank simply responded with "Da. Now take us to the vault." Clint grabbed the wounded man by the collar and dragged him to where the vault staircase was located. "Tell whoever's in there to open up and surrender," ordered Frank. All he got was a string of epithets in Serbian.

"Suit yourselves." Frank tossed a flashbang grenade in the room and broke down the door by kicking it. He whipped out the Uzi again and shot both of the guards fast. Turns out, they were just guards for a second door, behind which were tons of paper money, gold bars, and boxes with dozens of files, papers, videotapes, etc. Frank ordered the priest to give the combination for the door's lock.

"You think you can intimidate me into opening that up?"

One of the guards tried to crawl towards his gun on the other side. The Punisher kicked it away and shot him again.

"Yea."

"Von Strucker will kill me."

A small pause. "Uh-huh."

Cursing in Serbian, the fake priest entered a five digit combination and the metal door sprung open. It took Frank and Clint a few moments to take in the sheer volume of everything that HYDRA had hidden down here. They took a stack of money for everyone back at the hotel (save Stark, not like he was cash-strapped or anything), some of the more valuable goods, and files and evidence that would be damning to HYDRA once it got leaked to the public.

"You can't take it all," said the priest.

"No," replied Frank. "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna let it sit around."

He expended another grenade and set all the money on fire. Burn baby burn. Off to the rest of the Avengers and let Clint tell them how much fun babysitting the Punisher was.

* * *

"Goddamnit."

Baron Von Strucker had gotten word of the latest Avengers attack. It was a two-pronged strike, apparently: the majority of the Avengers had gone to subdue his contacts in Belgrade, while the Punisher and Hawkeye had delivered a more devastating blow: the release of all the surveillance on the Serbian government, plus millions reduced to a crisp tender. Not good.

"We've had to de facto shut down all our operations in Serbia, and…" Dr. List, although he had the same concerns that Von Strucker did, lacked the conviction that made the Baron a leader.

"Don't bother doctor. The twins will be able to fight them better, once the final tests are complete. Until then, I've found a new ally. Come doctor." He led Dr. List to another room in the base.

They encountered a man well over six feet tall, wearing a mask that vaguely resembled a skull and a long dark blue cloak. He was armed with both outdated and conventional weapons, firearms and swords.

"So," said the Baron, "you're the one they call the Taskmaster." The Taskmaster merely nodded.

Von Strucker pulled out two SHIELD file photos of Frank Castle and Maria Hill. "I trust you know these are, right?"

"Yes," said the Taskmaster. "We were all in the same place at the wrong time years ago. I never got the chance to make it right for them."

"Now you do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So the Taskmaster has been let loose. What connection does he have to the Punisher and Maria Hill? That, my friends, will be coming soon.


	8. Chapter 8

" _Agent Hill, a word, if you would."_

_Maria Hill looked up from the Tom Clancy novel she was reading on her break time to find Agent Phil Coulson in her office. "Yes, Phil, what is it?"_

" _Director Fury himself wants to see you."_

" _Very well." Maria got up and followed Coulson through the Triskelion on the way to Fury's office._

_Only a few years of SHIELD duty and Hill had already cut herself a piece of the pie. Her colleagues described her as determined, resourceful, vigilant, and motivated. She'd also been described as cold, ruthless, a bitch. Oh, and there was that Russian agent that described her as "_ _Snegurochka"- the Snow Maiden. In Russian folklore, the Snow Maiden would have her heart melted if she ever loved._

_False, thought Maria Hill. I have loved before. Only to have it destroyed. Hence the job at SHIELD, to find meaning again. She thought of Coulson. The man was nice enough, and they'd gone on a few dates a few months back, but he'd never be able to replace Adrian. None of them would or could. None of them knew the secret hurt she'd known for so long._

_Eventually they reached Fury's office. In addition to Director Nick Fury, agents Clint Barton and Tony Masters were also in the room._

" _Maria, take a seat." began Nick, "First, I'd like to congratulate you. You're now SHIELD's Deputy Director." He then went on to tell her that she was one of the most brilliant and trusted agents in the history of SHIELD._

_She responded with a shrug of her shoulders. "Is there anything I can do for you, sir?"_

" _This." Fury slammed a file labeled "PUNISHER" on the desk. "This… cocksucker has been a thorn at our side for quite some time now." She opened up the file to see a rugged yet handsome man, who seemed to carry an air of mystery around him. She also read his accused crimes and hits. "These are people we've been tagging and bagging. Why are we going after a guy who's doing the virtual same?"_

" _Because, Deputy Director, this man is acts outside the law and thinks he's playing God, even though he's nothing less of a law-breaking vigilante. He's broken Christ knows how many international laws killing criminals that we could be interrogating right now for the sake of world security. Surely you've been on enough missions to understand that, Hill." As much as she wanted to be right on this one, she wasn't. If things could go her way, the Punisher would be quietly convinced to give up his destructive ways. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen._

" _Alright. Who am I getting on this one?"_

" _They're right here," responded Fury, mentioning to the other three agents in the room. She'd done plenty of assignments with Coulson and Barton. Masters, on the other hand, was somewhat less experienced, but nevertheless worthy of getting a field assignment. He was one of the best students Maria had ever trained, mostly due to his uncanny skill of being able to pick up other skills via a superb photographic memory. Accurate aiming, Tae Kwan Do, piloting a Quinjet, you name it, he did it._

" _Anything else?"_

" _Call for backup if you need it, though I doubt you will. I trust you. Now get it done."_

* * *

Frank and Clint were both more or less dozed out when Stark came back to check on them.

"And Banner, did you see the look on that guy's face when you told him that you would Hulk out- What the hell?"

Frank was the first to wake up. "You like it? Figured you guys could use a pay raise?"

"Please don't tell me you've made him do something stupid, Clint," said Natasha said as she woke Hawkeye up, groaning.

"Nope, we just raided a HYDRA vault. They weren't going to use any of this shit anyhow."

"What were you doing putting the operation at risk?" Maria Hill sounded pissed. As Natasha had told Frank earlier, all rules and regulation.

"If I was putting the operation at risk, I wouldn't do it. Or rather, there'd be HYDRA operatives surrounding this hotel," said Frank. "In fact, why don't you look outside the window and check for yourself?"

"Get over yourself, Castle. You're only here because Stark permits it."

"Actually, that technically applies to you too, Hill," cut in Tony. "Why don't both of you come over to my room? I gotta plan with you guys. The rest of you: play nice now."

Tony's private hotel room was much nicer than the other rooms Stark had secured. It also had some degree of privacy: Stark had to command JARVIS to open up the half a dozen locks on the door. Inside, he'd laid out various maps, blueprints, and weapons around the room.

"Look Maria, from what Clint told me, this guy-" he patted Frank on the back as he spoke "-acted within some form of restraint. If you were the one running the ops, wouldn't you be doing more?" Frank couldn't help but nod.

"You see, I know how to keep a team together. Something Fury should have taken lessons from me to get in his head." Hill and Frank gave each other a passing glare at the sound of Fury's name. "Now," continued Stark," let's talk about this." He pulled up a touchscreen and displayed a pair of large industrial complexes in the Greek countryside, surrounded by mountains. "They call these Apollo and Artemis. Alexander Pierce set these up to supply SHIELD forces in the area and fund his cronies in Greece. When the Greek Government shifted to left wing politics years ago, the factories got shut down."

"But now that HYDRA's back…"

"Exactly. Give me something on how to take this one."

Maria spoke first. "Well, there's a river stationed about twenty meters south of the Apollo factory. It would be easy enough to slip in-"

"Wrong."

Hill rolled her eyes. "Sure Frank, just interrupt me without offering your counterargument."

"Good thing I have one. Attacking from the south river, at the Apollo factory, is fatal. They know it's going to be a weak point, and therefore it's going to have all the security you can name. Motion sensors, fences, armed guards, all of it. Thus, we should be going after the Artemis factory first." He zoomed in on the touchscreen. "Light security, especially at night, but the open field makes one believe that this is the wrong way to attack."

"And it still is," responded Hill.

"We've got a Norse God and a man who turns into a green rage monster when angry. I think we can survive a few bullets, maybe a few missiles. Plus, I have a few friends." He began to dial a number on his phone.

"Meaning…"

"Allies." The phone rang until the other person answered. "Panos! How are you?... Yes, I'm doing well myself. Look, can I ask for a favor… Ok. I need whoever you've got to assist me and a few friends at a location I'll be sending GPS coordinates to. Think you can do that?... Very well. Tell them to begin on my say-so." Frank hung up the phone. "We've got the support of twenty men, maybe more. All of them I guarantee will keep silent of our involvement here."

"And the one man weapon of mass destruction strikes again," said Hill, albeit not very convincingly. "I've got no real objections to the plan, except trust. If any of those guys are even the slightest bit stupid, if someone posts online that they're helping the Avengers out, HYDRA's coming down on us like a ton of bricks. And while I'm ready to fight, I want it to be on our own terms, not their's." She checked her phone. "Food's here. Finally. I'll be back."

While she left to get the other Avengers fed, Tony just smiled at Frank. "My assumptions were right about you. There's a reason you're still on this team. Anything else you can give me advice on?"

"Actually, I was hoping there was something you could give me advice on."

"Sure, big guy. Fire away."

"Maria." Frank's face was stone cold, though his mind was racing laps in his head.

"Maria? What do you-" Stark turned his mouth into a slippery smile. "Don't tell me. The Punisher has a crush on Hill. Who would've guessed?"

"I didn't say that-"

"Please, it's written all over you, even if you do try to hide it. And to be honest, I don't blame you. She's got a marvelous ass, a nice figure, and a pretty face with piercing gray eyes."

"You know her better than I do, don't you?"

"Could say that. I've only had her working for me a couple months. You really want my advice on this?"

"Yes."

"Well… I'll be honest. She's never been one of my favorite people. You know me, I don't live by rules, and neither do you big guy. She does like it's a religion. Now here's where you two are alike: y'all both got skeletons in the closet, or put in other words, y'all are no fun. She's got secrets, and so do you. Open up to her like I or Cap or Thor can't, and maybe you'll make some headway. That's my advice."

Frank blinked while cleaning a pistol. "That actually sounds right."

"You see, I'm not really that big of an idiot," said Stark in a sarcastic tone. "I'm just the money supply, that's all."

Hill arrived a moment later. "Stark, those friends of yours are like children. Clint won't even close his mouth to-"

She was interrupted by a metal rod jutting in the hotel room window. It was followed by a crash that sent all three of them flying in various directions.

They got up to see figure, draped in a blue cloak, wearing a skull mask, and standing with a nasty looking rod/spear in both hands.

"Hello Stark. Hello Castle. Hello Hill." The voice was ominous and eerily inhuman.

Maria snorted and pulled out her gun. "Hello Masters. You could've knocked."


	9. Chapter 9

_It had been four months since Nick Fury had assigned Maria Hill both the Deputy Director job and the Punisher assignment. She'd figured that one man could be not be that hard to catch._

_If only it were that easy._

_The Punisher had somehow eluded every one of Hill's attempts to capture him. Sometimes, like in Madrid, it was his careful planning in advance. Sometimes, like in Nairobi, it was met with both failure to capture him along with bodies left in Frank Castle's wake. And in Calcutta, it was just pure luck he escaped her grasp._

_It didn't help that Nick Fury had given her, as well as Coulson and Masters and Barton, a lecture after each failure. Now there were flying over St. Petersburg, taking in the sights and sounds of Russia. Most of the city was gray and dull, but at least it wasn't actively trying to kill them, like last week in Moscow._

_You sure this is the place?" asked Clint as he loaded his quiver on the Quinjet Fury had loaned them._

" _Almost 100%. Coulson, stay here in the jet if any of us need backup," answered Hill as she loaded her own guns._

" _This better be it. I'm tired of this fucking goose chase this asshole's been making us go on." Of all the agents sent to apprehend the Punisher, Tony Masters had been taking it the hardest. He rubbed his buzzcut again and picked out an AR-15 automatic shotgun, a favorite weapon he'd chosen especially for this mission._

_Coulson tried to calm him down. No need for unsteady nerves. "Look Tony, I know you're- Oh shit. There's Castle." Coulson spotted the signature death's head on the shirt of the man they were after. He was jogging towards a luxury yacht. "He's trying to escape St. Petersburg via ship!"_

" _We are a go. Barton, Masters, on me." The three of them disembarked on a dock not far from the ship Castle was planning to make his getaway on._

_With guns in hand, shooing away civilians and dock officials was easy enough. But then a sniper's bullet fired, landing just inches away from Barton. "There he is! Second floor of the ship's passenger levels. Let's get him!" Barton went in first, clearing various parts of the starboard side of the ship. Hill and Masters followed closely behind. Barton then proceeded to quickly climb a flight of stairs that led to the next level, the level where Frank Castle's sniper bullet fired from._

_A commotion followed on the upper floor, and suddenly Barton's unconscious self was thrown down not far from where Hill and Masters were. "Stand down and leave, and I won't KILL whoever you send next." said the menacing voice of the Punisher. Hill began to radio Coulson. "Phil, we need backup ASAP. Get a STRIKE team to Tango Foxtrot-"_

" _Screw that shit. I'm going in!"_

" _NO! Masters, do not compromise yourself. He WILL kill you. Attack and-"_

" _Attack and what? I've studied his fighting styles. I'll do what you're not capable of," yelled Tony Masters as he descended the same stairs to do the job that Barton had tried and failed to do._

* * *

"I actually prefer to be called the Taskmaster these days, has a nice ring to it," said Masters, dropping the rods he'd used to break in the hotel room. It seemed illogical for him to do so, but he felt confident in his own abilities to take them down bare handed.

Maria Hill began firing on the Taskmaster. However, he had already anticipated this, and rolled to avoid the bullets. He also began running on the wall, kicking her gun out of her hand as he fell back to the ground.

"JARVIS, get me that suit I stashed in the closet," ordered Stark as Frank pulled out his own gun and knife, and slammed himself against the Taskmaster.

While wrestling the Punisher, the Taskmaster simultaneously pulled out a small metal device and threw it at Stark's direction. It hit his head, sending him falling, and also diverted to the closet door, where it began beeping and then sent off a surge of electricity. "Unable to retrieve the Mark VII, sir," replied JARVIS, indicating that the suit had been effectively taken out of action for the time being."

"What the hell," groaned Stark, getting on his knees.

"I've studied all the Avengers. Taking out you three is just paperwork." The Taskmaster then threw Frank, who was trying to choke Masters in a headlock, towards Stark, and both of them collapsed into a glass table, with the force combining the strength of Masters and the weight of Frank Castle.

* * *

_Meanwhile, in the room across the hall_

"Damn, this Thai takeout is the bomb," commented Clint, stuffing yet another spoonful of rice in his mouth. Natasha just rolled her eyes watching Hawkeye's manners. All of them were out of their fighting clothes and hoping to enjoy the rest of the day to themselves.

"I agree," said Thor. "We should let Maria get our food more often. She picks out the best-"

A muffled explosion was heard by the whole group. The paused for a moment, then, went back to eating. There were stopped when another loud boom happened, this time shaking the room a little. "Does anyone want to check that out?" asked Banner.

"I may as well. I'm done eating," said Thor, taking his hammer along with him.

* * *

Frank could not believe the strength that this "Taskmaster" possessed. "Stupid man you are, Castle. Too late to reverse a mistake." Almost effortlessly, he threw Frank off of his back and onto a recovering Tony Stark, who happened to receive a full dose of Frank Castle to the chest. Both of them were knocked out for a few seconds.

Meanwhile, Maria had put herself together and taken the job of keeping the Taskmaster occupied while Stark and Castle recovered from their blows. But every strike, kick, and punch Maria sent at the Taskmaster was countered or blocked with almost relative ease. "You know I studied all the ways SHIELD trains its agents. What makes you think you're any different?"

"Because I'm the one who trained you in those fighting styles," snarled Maria in a threatening tone, all at the same time throwing Masters another roundhouse kick. Masters dodged it and pulled out a retractable knife. Immediately Maria realized a weak point and sought to take advantage of it. She threw him to the floor, trying to dislodge his weapon.

"You were always a weakling," growled the Taskmaster.

"Why? Because I had the ability not to always lose my temper? Because Fury chose to promote me over you?"

"No. It's because you never hit where it hurts." To empathize his point, he kicked her between the legs as hard as he could. This gave him the opportunity to get back up and extend the blade on his knife. Taskmaster was about deliver a slash to Maria's throat… when a large metal object slammed him against the wall first, and then the ceiling.

Thor called back his hammer to his hand. He didn't know who this masked intruder was, but he did know he was not a friend.

"Unexpected timing, god of thunder. But I won't stick around for a fight I wasn't prepared for." The Taskmaster pulled out a grappling gun and fired it out the window, attaching itself to the roof of the building across the street. Before he left. He gave Maria some parting words: "Never forget whom you trained to kill." And in the flash of a second, he was lost in downtown Belgrade, leaving three bruised and soundly defeated Avengers in his wake.

* * *

Frank was tended to his "wounds" by Banner again. This time, they consisted of a few cracked ribs and an arm that could have used a cast, but Frank wasn't having any of that. Clint and Natasha had gone into downtown Belgrade looking for clues to track down Taskmaster, but not with much luck. The man was a virtual ghost, and had been careful to cover his tracks. Meanwhile, Stark had to fish out some cash to cover all the damages done to the hotel, one of few five-star hotels in not just Belgrade, but Serbia in general.

The afternoon was not going well for anyone.

Thor came up to him. "You alright, brother?"

"Yeah, thanks for asking. Actually, thanks for making that guy, whoever the hell he was, go the fuck away. He handed our asses to us, and I don't ever admit that."

"Well, now you did," said Thor with a grin. "I heard from Maria that he can copy anyone's fighting styles just by watching?"

"Don't ask me about it, I don't know the slightest thing what bullshit this Taskmaster can pull off."

"Well, he seems like a worthy adversary to challenge one day," said Thor.

Then Steve came back from the update Clint and Natasha had given him on Taskmaster via radio. He'd also conferred with Stark. "Change of plans. Stark wants to speed up things in Greece. Now we're planning to leave for Athens tonight. "

As they headed for the exit, Frank almost bumped into Tony Stark, who was finished giving the hotel owner another lump of cash to cover "uninvited guest expenses". "Almost forgot to tell you, I've got you and Hill manning the C-130," he said with a wink. He then went away on his phone. "Time to see what my buddy Phil Coulson is up to now. I really wish Fury just told us the truth about him. Guess that's what I get for hacking the Triskelion even before SHIELDgate…"

* * *

The planes took off that night. As Stark had said, there was no point in wasting time when a new madman was on the loose after their heads.

Soon it was just Hill and Castle awake piloting the C-130. Steve and Natasha came along the transport plane for the ride and compaionship, but both were sound asleep at this late hour.

"You don't sleep?" Frank asked Hill.

"Not when I find out an old acquaintance I thought was dead is alive and gunning for my head."

"You knew him?"

"We were both in SHIELD. He was brilliant, but brass and never could follow orders." She turned away for a moment, reminiscing. "Sometimes I still can't believe SHIELD is gone. I almost feel naked without it."

She looked at Frank. "And this is where others would make some sort of wisecrack, but not you. Congrats, you're not on my shitlist."

"So you don't hate me. Is that what I can take away from that?"

Maria sighed. "Frank, I'll be honest. I'm not sure what I think of you." She paused and asked her own question. "How do you feel about yourself? After your family and five years of vigilante work, you come here on Stark's invitation. What do you think?"

Frank gazed into the night sky from the pilot's chair. "Well, I kind of felt… empty, at times. I did it, I killed the monsters that took my wife and children away from me. I've destroyed dozens of mobs, syndicates, and gangs, but what? Is that it? Let's turn the page.

"My family died that afternoon in Central Park. And nothing I ever do will ever change that. Sure, my work means that hundreds of people won't have to be doing what I do because their families didn't die. But it's never enough. Never has been. From what your colleagues tell me, it was the same with you at SHIELD."

"You don't know my life-"

"But I can tell enough that you and I are cut from the same cloth. Even if my piece is composed of law-breaking vigilante and yours a top secret agent. So go ahead. What kept you going?"

Hill sighed again. "Okay. Before SHIELD I had a partner. We lived together, and we were thinking about marriage. It just never had a chance to happen. Next thing I knew I was working for SHIELD."

Frank waited. Maria didn't go any further. "That's all I'm going to get out of you, isn't it? The whole keep-it-to-yourself thing doesn't work on me. It doesn't make you tough. It makes you seem…"

"Seem like what?" Now Maria was annoyed.

"Seem not like a normal person. Normal people don't hold up their emotions forever."

"Just because I don't whine about-"

"It ain't whining. It's being human. It's accepting that bad things happened, and not acting like they can go away. They sure as hell won't for me. Hell, we all get pissed on, and I can tell the Avengers get pissed on a lot, but I don't believe your pain is worse that the pain that I or Rogers or Banner or any of us has suffered, and I dare you to prove otherwise."

"You're trying to piss me off now, aren't you?" Her voice was a low growl now.

"I've got nothing to lose. Never have."

"What makes you think this will be any better, talking to you?"

"Like I said, we're cut from the same cloth."

"Ok then." At this point she was almost fighting back tears. "I'm not telling you about my partner now. Maybe later."

"What about Masters? He knew my name, knew who I was."

"But if do you really want to know about Masters, be my guest…"


	10. Chapter 10

_After throwing the archer off the balcony of the yacht, Frank Castle thought he might finally get a break. The damn SHIELD team had been on his ass for two months, and was really putting a dent into how much time he could spare to taking out more crime syndicates. He was about to stash himself in the hiding place that the yacht's captain had made for him when several shotgun blasts erupted around him, knocking wooden chairs around and sending Frank diving for cover. He loaded his own rifle and fired back a few rounds._

" _I thought I told you to back off. Who the hell do you think you are anyways?"_

" _I'm the guy who's going to wipe the floor with your ass. We can do this the hard way or the easy way. All up to you." The voice couldn't have been more than thirty, and had an extremely arrogant ring to it. It reminded Frank of his own SEAL drill instructor, the only one who ever made him throw up during practices._

" _I'm telling you the same thing, pal." The Punisher fired back some more, and then pulled out a grenade, got rid of the pin, and threw it away. The consequent explosion made the man roll for cover in Frank's direction. He immediately put his weapon, an automatic shotgun by the looks of it, but Frank swiftly pulled it away and tried to punch the agent, who pulled himself back, did some crazy looking acrobatics move backwards, and pulled out an automatic pistol. He opened fire, but Frank either dodged the bullets or let the Kevlar under his shirt take the rounds until the clip was out. Once it was, the agent- his face confirmed what Frank had deduced – pulled out a military-grade knife. Frank responded in kind with his own Ka-Bar._

" _Navy SEAL, huh," said the agent. "I've studied that too. There's not a fighting style in the world I can't copy or counter."_

_Frank didn't answer. This termite wasn't worth his time talking to. He lunged with the arm holding his knife, but the agent seemed to have anticipated this and flicked his own knife – right onto frank's shoulder. The Punisher grunted in pain, then kicked the agent and pulled out a second knife. Each of them swung at each other repeatedly. The Punisher did every trick in the book but the agent, with hate filled eyes, kept countering as if he'd been right alongside Frank at his SEAL training from day one. It seemed like maybe, just maybe, he was going to gain the upper hand on Frank if this game of smoke and mirrors kept going on. As luck – bad luck, that was – would have it, the agent did gain that upper hand, and had Frank pinned to a window of the yacht. He was about to stab Frank in a much more hurtful spot when a lone gunshot rang out._

_Maria Hill had said a silent thanks to the years of training she'd spent into her marksmanship. The bullet almost- but not quite -went through Tony Masters' kidney and should have punctured Frank Castle at the intestines. However, she'd miscalculated as to how much body armor Frank was wearing. So while Masters dropped to a knee and belched in pain, the Punisher was given an unintentional reprieve. And he set out to take full advantage of it._

_Picking up Masters with both hands, he whispered in his ear, "Let's see you copy this." Then he threw Masters out the window and into the bay with one fluid motion._

_With that threat taken care of, the Punisher turned his attention to the woman who shot him. She was firing both passing shots and arm wounds, as if she wanted to subdue him rather than kill him. However, neither had an effect on Frank Castle. He picked up the automatic shotgun and fired it at the woman's leg._

_Maria Hill winced in pain as her left leg took a shotgun blast. She tried to raise her gun at the Punisher but he swatted it away with ease. "I don't kill women and children," were the last words she heard from him before he slammed a rifle butt against her temple and all went dark._

* * *

"So you're telling me that's why this guy has a grudge match against us."

"Yep," answered Hill. "The goal was to capture you and lock you up, not kill you. Masters disobeyed orders and I tried to stop him." She looked at Frank. "And you."

"So what happened afterwards?"

"Another agent," she almost said Coulson's name, "found where you dropped me off. He searched for Masters for the rest of the day and another night but found nothing. Next thing we knew, Nick Fury has my attention drawn to this cube with magic powers, according to Fury at least. And then boom, there's Loki, the Helicarrier attack, New York…"

"I don't even remember where I was when New York happened."

"Good for you. Second most stressful time of my life."

"And the first?"

"Probably stopping Insight, or…" She almost mentioned Adrian's name, but didn't.

"Right," said Frank. "Too touchy a subject. I just hope we've forgiven each other for shooting at each other. Correction: shooting you with an AR-15."

"We're on the same team now. We kind of have to." The C-130 was desending onto the private airstrip Stark and Panos had arranged for them. "I'm going to go wake Rogers and Romanoff."

"Remember what I said about being human and opening up," said Frank, looking back.

"You'll have to work for it."

"And how do you expect me to do that?"

"As you said: by being human. We're cut from the same cloth," Hill replied as she went to the cargo bay were Cap and Black Widow were dozing off.

* * *

The airfield was part of a large complex run by a group smugglers who operated from the mountains of Greece and had connections throughout Europe. According to intel JARVIS had pulled up on them they had at full strength a company's worth of men, although most were hired for part-time jobs every few months. Their leader, Panos, had a core of loyal men who always accompanied him, and these were the men Frank Castle could assure the support of. "Panos! So good to finally see you in person again." He gave the Greek smuggler leader a bear hug.

Panos responded in kind. He was roughly the same height and size as the Punisher. "I could say the same for you," he said with a Greek accent. He glanced at the Avengers. "So these were those 'friends' you were telling me about. Very risky bringing them in hostile country."

"We're willing to do what's necessary," said Captain America, always the leader. "Just tell us what else we need to know."

"Come with me," Panos took them to a command room of sorts. It wasn't Stark's tower but it was good enough for the time being. "These buildings house the main factory, along with several tanks," Panos said pointing on a map of the HYDRA complex. "You have the green monster with you, no?"

"We do," said Captain America, "but we were hoping to keep him out-"

Panos waived his hands. "Green monster is immune to tank shells. He should destroy this building."

"I disagree," countered Rogers. "We can have Stark or someone else-"

"No," said Castle. "Banner is the only one here capable of wrecking down the reinforced steel they added to this side of the complex."

"JARVIS told us that there are immigrants working as slaves in that factory. Isn't that right, Stark?" Tony had to nod in agreement.

"Why don't I take it down?" asked Thor. "I'm nearly as strong as Banner."

"No disrespect, but I doubt you can take dozens of bullets at once at near point-blank range," said Frank."Banner can, when in that mode."

"And that mode could get innocent civilians wounded or killed," said Rogers. "Do you really want that on your conscious, Frank?"

"I've done worse. And if you can fight your best friend turned assassin, I think you can agree with this matter too."

"Leave Bucky out of this," snapped Rogers. "He didn't know what he was doing."

"Oh boo hoo, let's give the Winter Soldier all the second chances we can, just because he was your best friend." Steve turned his back, but Frank knew he was ready for a fight. "That type of thinking almost got you killed on these helicarriers-"

Steve attempted to sucker punch Frank, and would have delivered a crushing blow to the head if it wasn't for Frank's reflexes kicking in, which made him catch Steve's fist with his own hands. The only problem was that Steve was a hell of a lot stronger than any man the Punisher had fought before, and it was taking all of his energy to keep Steve's fist from connecting with Frank's teeth.

"The Winter Soldier is a threat and still is, Rogers," said Frank as he struggled to maintain Steve's fist and diverted into air. "If you want to keep fighting about that, be my guest." Steve looked just as angry, and still gearing for a fight right then and now.

"I wouldn't keep pulling that thread if I were you, Frank," warned Black Widow."And it's beside the point. The point is whether we want Dr. Banner out in the field again, as a combatant. I think it's worth the risk."

"Agreed," said Hawkeye, twirling an arrow in his hands. "Banner better knows how to control the other guy these days." Nods of approval from Hill and Stark only reinforced the general sentiment in the room.

Finally, Bruce Banner himself spoke. "The other guy hasn't had a chance to come out in a while, but I think it won't be a problem for innocents, just our enemies."

Steve relented. "I hope you're right Dr. Banner. Panos, is there anything else that needs to be discussed with us?"

The Greek shook his head. "Frank already told me everything else I wanted to know. Now make yourselves at home before we head out for the HYDRA factory." As the group went their separate ways, Clint walked up to Frank. "Little word of advice buddy? It's not the brightest idea to piss off Cap."

"He was wrong, I was right. Even you said I was right."

"Not that." Clint's face turned more serious. "Bringing up the Winter Soldier. It's the easiest way to push Cap's buttons. Steve's a nice guy, but pushing his buttons is like putting an egg in a microwave." He paused to grab a bag of chips from a snack station. "With enough time, they both explode."

"What does that make me then?" asked Frank. "Dynamite?"

"I was going to say a minigun, but that works too if you want it to."

"Who cares. And anyhow, I couldn't care less about having to respect what that old war horse thinks. I mean, I respect what he did in World War II, but he's so outdated sometimes. It's fucking irritating."

"Give him time," said Clint. "One day he'll be on our level. One day. And don't make any outdated jokes about my bow and arrows. They'll kill you just as well as your bullets."

Frank chuckled. "Must be hard to have to modify a caveman's tools to fight alongside gods."

"Shut the fuck up," said Clint, munching on another bunch of chips. "Anyhow, a little birdie told me you have a thing for Maria."

"Stark?" It was now apparent to Frank that Tony Stark was not the most quiet of mouths.

Hawkeye winked. "Hot but deadly, that one. Keep your head on straight with that woman."

"Duly noted." they reached another portion of the airstrip, where a Blackhawk helicopter was touching down. "This is our ride. You, Natasha and I will be riding into battle with it. Here's what we're going to do..."

**A/N: This one was a bit fun to write. There's various stuff but I think it'll flow. Anyhow, I'm toying around with the idea of doing one-shots in what I'm going to call the "Punish-Hill" verse. Some of my ideas include Frank encountering the Winter Soldier, drabs into Maria's early life, or Ultron analyzing the one they call the Punisher. Let me know if there's an idea you'd like to see. As always, review away.**

**-Jokerang**


	11. Chapter 11

"I thought we were attacking from the grassy plain, not the river."

Black Widow looked out the copilot's seat as the Blackhawk circled the Apollo/Artemis factories. They'd departed little less than an hour ago. While the Hulk, Thor, and half of Panos' men were silently moving across the field in the nighttime, she, Hawkeye, and Frank were leading an airborne assault elsewhere. The rest of the Avengers and hired help were coming in two Blackhawks, the second not far behind.

"Rogers gave me this idea, believe it or not," replied Frank. "We'll try to keep as much fighting on the river as we can while the big guys hit them where it's supposed to hurt." The Punisher spotted several anti-aircraft guns moving upwards. "Everyone hold tight. We've got company." He swerved the helicopter a hard right as the cannons opened fire, raining explosions around the night sky. A chain gun in both Blackhawks returned fire to the men on the ground also doing what they could to bring the Avengers to the ground. "Thor, give me your status."

"As expected, they're going for the birds," answered Thor on the earpiece. "Tell us when you want Banner to change and we'll be going at it. Your allies are currently disabling security measures around here, or so they tell me."

Those measures would include cameras, electric fences, gun turrets, and anything else that would keep a normal army out. But not ex-Greek special forces and a group of superheroes.

Bullets began whizzing around the Blackhawks closer now, and some even cracked the windscreen. "Thor, you might want to give the signal to Banner now," said Barton. The Hulk's loud roars coming in over the radio implied that Banner already knew. "That should give them something to chew on-"

All of a sudden the anti-aircraft fire was getting even closer. Hawkeye barely missed a few round, but several of the smugglers, including the one manning the chain gun, were hit and went down.

"Ah hell," replied Frank. He got out of the pilot's chair. "Clint, take over. I'm going to do what I do best." He made his way the empty chain gun and opened a new hail of fire.

The enemies on the ground received a new burst of fire and blood. It wasn't they hadn't suffered before from the bullets, but now the bullets we coming with a new sense of purpose and direction. By the time Frank had finished clearing out the two sides of the river, everyone else in the copter was just looking at him in amazement.

"It's just a machine gun," commented the Punisher as the Blackhawks took down to land. Panos began shouting orders to his men while Stark zoomed out. "Watch the perimeter. Keep an eye out for any hostile reinforcements." Rogers was back to his old habit of giving the orders and calling the shots. "Frank, I need you taking the lead. Call out everything. We'll be coming in hot from the other side. You think you can handle that?"

"Yea. Captain's orders," replied the Punisher, not very convincingly. He began shouting in Greek, and took a trio of the Greeks to watch him as he approached the first door. Unlike most of the materials around here, this particular door was made of wood. The type of wood that could be brought down with a well-placed kick.

Frank surveyed the first room of this factory. It was deserted, with conveyer belts and weapons lying about. Almost as if hastily deserted. This didn't look right.

A ping sort of sound, and one of the other men was down. It wasn't deserted. It was a trap. "Get down!" The bullets switched to automatic fire, not just sniper shots.

Frank scanned the area quickly. Balcony area. Door to the far right. Another door, closer and on the left. Catwalk on the center. Four targets.

Frank switched the grenade launcher on his M4A1 and fired the first grenade, hoping to get both the guy on the catwalk and the guy on the balcony. It worked: the catwalk exploded, and its debris went flying in all directions, but mainly at the balcony. With two threats down, the Punisher began firing at both the doors with three round bursts. The man on the right was brought down, but the one on the left fled into his doorway, slammed the door behind him shut, and began shouting in muffled voices to others, who Frank guessed were other HYDRA underbosses. He shot at the door on the left, but it was made of much more stronger metal than the wood door he had kicked in.

Three clean hits in eighteen seconds. Not bad, although a fourth target had gotten away. He ordered the two remaining allies to plant an explosive charge on the door. He gave it a three second charge, and waited. The door came off with plenty of smoke and ashes.

Frank quickly shot two of the disoriented men inside, and wounded a third by shooting him in the foot. He dragged the wounded one out into the main factory room and told his helpers to try and get one of the conveyer belts started. "You're going to tell me where the hell all of your friends are. And they're not all fighting the Hulk and Thor."

"I'll never tell you-"

Frank jammed a pistol in the henchman's mouth. "Play nice, or this trigger gets pulled. Understand?"

"Fuck you."

Frank seriously contemplated putting a bullet in his head then and there, but decided against it. Instead, the conveyer belt came on. Frank lifted the henchman and attached him to the belt, moving towards some kind of funnel with a grinding sound coming out of the bottom of it. Not something you wanted to be caught in.

"Please, don't," said the now-worried henchman.

'Well, you can always tell me about where the rest of your friends are. They couldn't have just left the place completely."

The bad guy's breaths were coming as short pants. "Half of them went to grab the alien armor in the basement-"

"Alien armor? Like from New York?"

He quickly nodded.

"That's all I needed to know. Also, I changed my mind about pulling the trigger."

* * *

_Elsewhere_

"We've got Alpha team grabbing the Chitauri armor and weaponry from the lower levels, but is there any way you can send the asset down here?"

Baron Von Strucker sighed. The leader of Apollo was not a man known for a will of steel, just expertise in firearms.

"Negative. The asset went missing in Washington. But I have a replacement." He told the Apollo leader of who he was sending.

In Greece, in a war-torn factory, a man's face went pale. "Please don't tell me that's who you're sending. He's way too unstable-"

"It is, and you're going to like it. Now hold that position-"

The line went dead. Baron Von Strucker, frowned, then went back to his work. The staff Loki had dropped off was a miracle full of miracles.

* * *

The Punisher found Hill, Captain America, and the rest of the team down three rooms across ten minutes and a dozen bodies later. From the blood and sweat they had on them it looked like they had taken the brunt of the work. Apparently the majority of what men HYDRA had left on the surface were sent to the back of the factory, rather than the front.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes," Hill told Frank. "You don't even look like you've fought a bit."

"Not my fault I'm the best at what I do. Or maybe it is."

"Get over yourself Frank." As she said his name Hulk burst through a wall, followed shortly afterwards by Thor. "That was fun", said the Norse god of thunder.

"Were there any civilian causalities?" asked Rogers. Frank was sorely tempted to roll his eyes, or even openly mock Rogers, but for the sake of teamwork he didn't.

"No. Banner was careful enough that our allies got them out safely. No harm done, unless you count a dozen of those war machines burned to the ground." Hulk just grunted.

Blue lights of energy interrupted their brief respite. The team took cover as they saw what looked like, but couldn't be, Chitauri foot soldiers Helmets, body armor, even the thin plasma rifles matched.. " I thought they all died when their mothership got blown up," said Hawkeye.

"SHIELD collected most of the alien armor and weaponry," replied Hill, delivering a headshot to one of the men. "Or rather, HYDRA did."

"Doesn't matter. They'll die either way." The Punisher delivered another clip from his M4A1, then bent down to recover and reload while Hawkeye fired an explosive arrow that took out half a dozen faux Chitauri. The rest were easily smashed and thrown around by the Hulk and Thor in a matter of seconds.

"If they thought that could kill us, I'm very disappointed," said Black Widow, as more approached from multiple directions. Panos and his men were holding them off for now, but not for long. Then Stark flew by.

"Um, boys and girls' said Stark through his suit, "about those Chitauri powered bad guys. Got a lot more of them coming from the east. Plus what appears to be a tesseract powered tank."

"Do they ever adopt to the times?" said Rogers as he, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Hulk ran to where Stark said the new threat was.

"Ironic how you, of all people, are talking about getting with the times." Frank was off to join them when a voice cracked over his radio. "Hello again Mr. castle. I understand you might be a little busy, but you're going to want to hear what I have to say."

"Fuck," Maria groaned. It was the Taskmaster. He'd had to have tagged them and followed them all the way here.

"Mr. Castle, I've already killed four of your Greek friends and have their leader right where I want him. Don't make me kill anymore."

"How about you and me play a game of 'fuck off'. You go first." Frank slammed his radio back in his belt and began to set off where Panos and his men were holding off more Chitauri armored goons. "He wants to settle the score, then count me in," said Maria Hill as she followed Frank, loading her guns. "Thor?"

"I relish the challenge." The three ran off to assist Panos and his men any way they could.

"I suppose Miss. Hill is there with you." Taskmaster's voice crackled through the radio again. Maria didn't reply, she was too busy firing at a new wave of HYDRA men wearing Chitauri armor to. She did take note of him, though.

"I want to tell you something," said the Taskmaster. " I got this... memory thing. Due to my ability to pick up fighting styles, I can't remember much else. But I remember you. I remember him too. I remember your pretty little eyes aiming for ME, not him. Him, whom we were sent to KILL. You think I don't remember that?"

"I remember telling you to put a stick up your ass," snapped Hill. "And not just once. On your left Frank." Frank came within a hair of being blasted by a Chitauri plasma shot, and proceeded to shoot the man who fired it instead.

"I don't remember that. But we'll both remember this."

All of a sudden Thor spotted Taskmaster on the roof, with his own alien firearm in hand. As Thor flew up to face him, Taskmaster fired twice. The first was at Thor, to keep him at a distance.

The second was at Frank and Maria. It threw them in opposite directions. Frank got up fast, but Maria didn't.

"Fuck."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been posting this here, but my main site is FanFiction.net, so check there for latest updates. My name there is Jokerang.

Racing against time and ignoring bullets, Frank ran to Maria's side. She wasn't awake. He checked for a pulse. There was a weak one, but she was unconscious and bleeding out. There was a limited window for survival. Thinking fast, he grabbed Hill and put her arm around his shoulder. He was going to carry her out of here or die trying. "Thor, keep that bastard occupied. I've got a detour."

"Understood." The god of thunder was going at it with Taskmaster. The ex-SHIELD agent was blasting away, missing but keeping Thor on his feet enough so that he couldn't just fire a thunderbolt to kill him. However, once Thor got within range, the Taskmaster pulled out dual swords. "Pure vibranium, these beauties," he said admiringly, as if it wasn't his own design. "I think the hammer has found a match."

Roaring, Thor lunged at Taskmaster with all his might. But he defended himself with the vibranium swords, and the result of the interaction with Mjolnir created a sonic wave that sent both of them flying in opposite directions. They got up, and Thor proceeded to do it again. Same results, though neither seemed to be overly fazed.

This gave Frank the window of opportunity he needed to get Maria to safety. With her in one arm and his M4A1 in the other, he blasted away at the remaining HYDRA henchmen, ordering Panos (who'd been freed of having to try to fight Taskmaster) and his men to cover him as he hurried back into the empty factory. He laid Maria down to get a better look at her injuries. Aside from the blast, seemed that there was a single bullet would, just above the left kidney. Blood was flowing, but not as much as before.

Maria was regaining consciousness. 'What-t the hell happened?"

"Your old friend left us a gift." He motioned towards her bullet wound. "I think this was meant to be personal."

"Well, he was just as good of a marksman as I was."

"I see." He glanced around. No immediate threats. He radioed Stark. "Stark, Maria's wounded. I need medevac ASAP. Think you can do that?"

"I'll try," said Stark as he fired his repulsors on one of the tank crewmen who'd gotten out with his own alien weapon. "Give me two minutes, Hulk isn't finished taking out this bitch of a tank and Steve's cleaning up around the area."

"Might want to try making it in double time," said Frank as a grenade exploded not too far from where he and Maria were. "Got more of our friends on our asses." He fired off some shots to keep them away, then handed Maria a pistol. "Think you can handle some more shooting?"

"I'll try."

"Hold on to me then. This is going to be rough." Without warning Frank put Maria on his shoulder again and stood up, firing off shots quickly as he could. Maria had to take a few seconds to adjust to it, but after that she could fire as easily as she did before. After clearing the factory for the second time, they rendezvoused with Stark just as Maria was collapasing again. She'd managed to expend just enough energy to fire her way out, nothing else.

"How bad is it?" asked Stark.

"Various fragmentation wounds, and a bullet would bleeding out just above a kidney. Take her in the Blackhawk back to the base. Panos has a surgeon on site."

"Gotcha," said Stark as Frank passed Maria to Iron Man. At that same moment the tank in the background exploded in a fireball of blue and white. Hulk's roars of victory confirmed that one threat had been taken care of. "You sit tight vigilante, and finish the sabotage process. Got it?"

"Got it." The Punisher went back and examined both factories. "Panos, tell your men to get out the C4 and start applying it."

The stocky Greek nodded, and began giving the order. Conveyer belts, armories with hundreds of rifles, the Chitauri weapons, and even the wrecked tanks were planted with tons of C4. Panos gave the Punisher the trigger. "You do the honors," he said.

"You do it. Wouldn't be possible without the help," replied Frank as he tossed Panos the trigger back.

Panos finally relented and pushed the button on the trigger. Immediately both factories burst forth in a rain of fire. The buildings collapsed out from under themselves. Satisfied with the results, Frank decided to head back to the others when something whacked him on the head.

That something happened to be Thor's hammer, followed closely by Thor and the Taskmaster. Both of them looked like they had been nowhere near the C4 when it went off. "Frank? A little help would be greatly appreciated." Taskmaster looked like he was fresh and ready to fight, while Thor had taken some nasty hits. "You call yourself a god, and yet you can't even beat this lousy human."

Thor's reply was to fly Masters all the way to the sky and back. He also slammed him into the ground at least three feet deep for good measure. The navy blue cloak took a tattering, but Masters was still mostly unfazed by it all. "Pathetic. I bet Loki hits harder than-"

Boom. The Taskmaster took a shot to the chest. Frank Castle had snuck up on him unexpectedly.

"Shut up."

* * *

The team collectively decided to go back to New York for a short break. The reasons were varied: Maria needed to recover, Steve wanted to see what progress Falcon had made on tracking down Bucky, Pepper had to talk to Tony about the company's newest budget, and so on. They figured they'd put a dent in enough HYDRA operations to have them on the run, and not on the offensive anymore. They'd gone the next morning, after Frank said his farewells to Panos and his men.

"How did you make a loyal friend out of him anyways?" asked Stark as the group departed the airstrip.

"I didn't kill him when I should have. Now he owes me for life." Frank remembered how Panos was once just some man that the local government had hired to track the Punisher.

Once back in New York, the group went to do their own things. Steve met up with Falcon, who still couldn't find the Winter Soldier even after months of searching. Thor traveled to England to meet up with Jane Foster. Tony went back to the wheeling and dealing of boardroom scheming with Pepper Potts and Stark Industries. Clint Barton, for the most part, went off the radar, for reasons unknown. Lastly, Natasha and Frank checked on Maria Hill in the hospital, where she was recovering from her injuries. The Greek surgeon wasn't exactly world-class, so she was here to finalize the details and rest from her ordeal.

They took turns watching over Maria as she slept. It was Frank's turn when Natasha walked in. "You might want to check this out, Frank. Outside."

Frank did what she said. "Yeah. What is it?"

"I just got finished speaking with the doctors. They say Maria's got a good amount of scar tissue all over her body, and not just from Greece. This includes back, chest, even wrists."

"Wrists? As in-"

"Cutting? That's what they said. Even I didn't know that one." Black Widow paused. "That's not the woman that broke me into SHIELD."

"And my dad was the man who raised me right, even though he was a drunk second-generation Italian." His tone and body language showed both an understanding and disbelief. "Keep an eye on her, would ya? I'm gonna go have a smoke outside."

* * *

"No, boss, it didn't work this time."

The Taskmaster was on the phone with Von Strucker again. The man had the habit of calling in every few hours.

"They hit my main armory. Do you know how much was in those factories?"

"No, but-"

"Well maybe you should. Or perhaps I should have left you in the ground to rot." The Taskmaster had woken up after the Punisher had shot him in a stretcher, by men who assumed he was dying and had fixed him up. After 'thanking' those poor souls, he gathered what was left of the HYDRA forces to search for the Avengers, but no luck. They'd already gone away. He was on his own again.

"Trust me, that was your man in Greece. I have a new team in place, it's only a matter of time." He wasn't lying about that; his new team was handpicked. Over the years, Taskmaster had trained dozens of killers around the world, and planted them within various organizations, groups, and syndicates worldwide as his eyes and ears for the globe. In addition, he could call up any of them whenever needed. And today he'd need a lot of them. He ran through his mind a small sampling:

-Wang. Hong Kong triad underboss. Tae Kwan Do expert.

-Sergei. Ex-Spetsnaz. Good shot.

-Michel. Combat instructor in the French Foreign Legion. Jack of all trades.

The list went on. The unifying connection was that they all had sheer ruthlessness and loyalty to Masters.

"A matter of time?" Von Strucker. "My calls aren't being answered. Nick Fury made Istanbul shut down. America is chaos. Nothing is WORKING. Do your part to stop the bleeding, or don't come back." The phone hung up on Taskmaster. "охуел," (Fucking crazy) Taskmaster muttered to himself in Russian. Those in his posse that knew the language turned uneasily at him. When Masters cursed in foreign languages, it usually meant that things were about to go to shit. "I feel like a little stint to New York. Does anyone else here feel like a little stint to New York?"

* * *

_"Honey? Honey, what the hell happened to you?"_

Frank couldn't be dreaming of it again. And yet he was.

_Central Park, New York City. A woman and two children gunned down after accidently viewing mob activity that shouldn't have been seen._

_His wife was bleeding out on the pavement, the crimson pool getting larger by the moment. The two children were already gone. There was no way they would survive the ambulance drive to the hospital. Not in their condition._

_"Honey, I'm so sorry. If I'd known what-"_

_"It's alright Frank." Mrs. Castle seemingly had made her peace. "I'm going to a better place."_

_"Bullshit, I am NOT letting you die! No one dies on my watch!"_

_And yet she did. She was dead by the time the 911 dispatch arrived. They found Frank Castle kneeling, with his deceased wife in his arms, muttering to himself, "Never again. Never again."_

Boom. Wakeup call. This was the third time in a week he had been woken up by nightmares of the past.

Frank looked at his alarm clock. It was seven minutes after midnight. One could hear the sounds of the nightlife of Manhattan from the penthouse in Stark Tower. A man can't ever get any sleep around here, could he? No.

He tried to go back to sleep. But there were too many things racing in his head that he couldn't. Not without help. He tried telling JARVIS to put on some white noise, but that had no effect.

He guessed he needed a drink. He put on a muscle shirt with his custom death's head printed on it and walked himself to Stark's bar. He needed whisky, and preferably strong whisky. He searched around for a minute, and realized it was gone. Someone must have taken it. "JARVIS, could you do me a favor and locate-"

"It's over here."

Maria Hill was sitting on the couch in her night clothes, taking a shot of whisky. "You want some?"


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a bitch to write. I've written dark stuff like this before, but I'm not sure how it pans out. Maria's a sort of blank slate in the MCU, and I've seen a lot of similar stories with Hill having a rough background that helped shape her into the character we know. I'd thought I'd add my own spin on that, and I hope you enjoy the angsty stuff I've written.

"Damn it Jones, don't use that sniper rifle."

The two men on the top (but unconstructed) floor of the high-rise right next to Stark Tower was currently uninhabited. That didn't mean there was anyone on it, though. The two men currently on it were not construction workers. They were mercenaries who'd been given the job of making their way to their current location and watching from there.

"Oh come on. Two easy hits. Doesn't the boss want them dead anyways?"

"Not now, dumbass. We're being paid $50,000 each to spy on them, not kill them. And the security system Stark's got installed in that tower would spot us in a second. Now keep an eye on those two while I get Mark what he needs for the hack. It's easier to gather the necessary info when the building's a few blocks away."

* * *

Frank sat himself down next to Maria. "Yes, please." He proceeded to drink straight from the bottle, as he had done before he sobered up. The liquid seared down his throat and relaxed his muscles.

As he drank, he could glance from the corner of his eye Maria sizing him up. He'd seen girls do it before; it was one of the side effects of keeping in shape and sticking to a strict diet. Frank couldn't help but think she was beautiful with her hair down and her demeanor more relaxed. He also noticed her glaring at him when he took another sip.

"I thought you were sober," said Maria.

"Being an alcoholic and bring are sober are not exactly different. It involves a lot of blurs, not a fine line. It helps me sleep." replied Frank. "And what about yourself? Couldn't sleep either?"

"I haven't had a good night's sleep in a long time." She took another sip, as if trying to forget something.

"You know, the alcohol helps to deaden the pain, but it doesn't make it go away." Frank traced the scars on Maria's wrists. "And if I'm not mistaken, there's a lot more than what's on the surface when it comes to you and me. You may as well let it out."

"Frank, please…"

"Oh I want to hear it. Soon there's gonna be enough Jack inside me not to want to." Without warning, he grabbed Maria's shot glass out of her hand and refilled it. "Enough inside you too."

"What makes you think it'll be different telling you?"

Frank gazed into her eyes. The dark brown eyes of his stared into her bright grey ones. "Because I know pain as an old friend. A brother, even."

"And what do you know about pain?"

Not the best question to ask the Punisher. "You watch your fucking family die right in front of you, with paramedics unable to save them and cops too corrupt to find the perpetrators. Then you can tell me what I know about pain."

With a venomous look in her eyes, she gulped down the next shot and cleared her throat. "You really want to know do you? I'll give it to you in four sentences. My boyfriend died in a terrorist attack just a day before he planned to propose to me. That's why I slit my wrists. Then I joined SHIELD to give myself a new meaning. Then SHIELD falls apart and I'm hounded by everyone and everything. There." She was looking at Frank hard, doing her best to fight the tears. "Where do you think that ranks on the shit scale? Maybe a good eight or nine. We could probably downgrade it though. Not as bad as Steve, who wakes up seventy years in the future, losing everyone he knows. Not as bad as Natasha, who gets taken from her family at the age of seven and gets thrown into the Red Room, where the policy is kill or be killed. But not as bad as Thor, who at least lived a life with his mother. And way better than Stark, who was a grown up when his parents kicked the bucket."

Frank could hear the throb of resentment in her words, and throb he'd experienced too many times. The resentment was, quite simply, pain that had taken a wrong turn.

"You don't get it, do you Frank? We can't compare tragedies like we're keeping score. Everyone feels grief in their own way. What I lost was… everything. My family and I had disconnected a year before. Adrian was all I had. It destroyed me. "

"His name was Adrian," Frank said gently, hoping to calm her down and shift focus to something not so nerve-wracking.

"Adrian Waters. Up and coming secret agent."

"SHIELD like yourself, I guess."

"No, I joined after him. While we were together, I had no idea what the hell I was planning to do with my life. According to Fury, he was  _the_  agent. Took his job seriously, too. Actually believed he was going to make a difference in the world."

"Sounds like a nice guy."

"Too nice at times. I remember a friend telling me once that we girls aren't supposed to go after the nice guys. We want a bit of grit in the oyster. That's how you get a pearl, after all. But after all the stress of college, after dealing with the shit my father and stepmother gave me every other day, I liked coming home to a dependable and reliable man. You could say he was my antidote to the world. "

"What happened?" Now the alcohol was working on both of them.

Maria gulped another shot. "It was a nice September day. Very sunny and bright. It was just myself at the condo we shared. He was away on SHIELD duty. I got a call that day from a man named Hanson. Hanson was his handler for the past few years before… well, it. He began by telling me that there was a mission in Algeria, that some Al Qaeda members had raided an embassy and taken half the US staff there hostage. Adrian was part of the extraction team, so was Hanson. It was supposed to be a simple snatch and grab. Get in, get out, no causalities, minimal if any. They'd cleared two floors, but the terrorists began a fight on the third. Regardless, it didn't seem like anything they couldn't handle."

"But there's a catch."

"There was a girl, maybe ten or eleven. She was the daughter of the ambassador, on vacation with the rest of the family and she was checking on her dad. The ambassador himself was unconscious, and SHIELD hadn't reached him yet. The terrorists found her, grabbed her, took her to the roof, and threatened to shoot her if the agents tried anything else. I saw footage of the raid later. It was a mess. Firefights everywhere. But anyways, the girl was crying for anyone to help, and Hanson's team heard her. Hanson got the order from Fury to hold off until backup arrived. Adrian made a different call. He didn't think twice about it, according to Hanson. He rushed headfirst into the terrorists, gunning down a number of them before dozens of bullets came at him. The girl, as far as I know, ran to Hanson safely, so that's something. Maybe it wasn't a pointless death."

"You felt numb afterwards, didn't you?" said Frank. "That's how I felt when I was talking with the doctor, hearing about the dozen different ways my family died. And as I was listening, I could just feel a part of myself shutting off. Some of my emotions just went down. Allowed me to kill and kill and kill again without one little regret. Only it had to come out every once in a while." He tapped the bottle of Jack lightly. "Took me years to master the bottle."

"That makes two of us. After I heard the news, I kind of fell apart. It was world-shattering. It didn't help that my ever-drunken father had more or less cut me off after I told them I was moving in with Adrian. He was supplying me with that college tuition, all of the bills too for good measure and without him I couldn't continue, academically or emotionally. My college career was essentially dead and buried. I was truly alone in the world for the first time So that was why it didn't seem to matter if I was dead and buried as well. And that was when I started thinking about killing myself."

"Oh." Frank's mouth turned downwards at the corners as he tried to think of what to say next. "We can stop there if you want."

"No. You asked for it, you're getting all of it. I got the idea while going through Adrian's belongings after his funeral. He had a blade, a razor blade. He liked a proper one, not those clip in multihead ones with wire for extra security. I stood in the bathroom, with the mirror in front of me, and held the blade against the crook of the wrist. You have to slice down along the forearm, which actually gets out the most blood. I know because a girl from my high school did it the same way. She was from a not-so good neighborhood, had an abusive boyfriend, and was hooked on four different drugs. When I first heard about it, I couldn't understand why she'd topped herself like that. Her life was shit, yes, but I thought she was being a coward. Why didn't she ditch the boyfriend, get into rehab, and sort herself out? But when I was on the brink in my own way, I understood. Everything else had gotten the better of her. This was the only way she could score a victory. It was about recovering some shred of dignity while you still could."

"Slashing your wrists in the bathroom ain't exactly dignified."

"When you're in a particular mindset, it can be. You're leaving your body to the world as a message: it hurts. It hurts so much that this is the only sane solution."

"But the only sane solution isn't to end it all, it's to go on," said Frank. "It's to stand up, say 'fuck you' to the pain, and carry on."

"I realized that not long after. Look." She showed Frank the full extent of her scar on the left wrist. "It stung like fuck, and I had to call a neighbor for help. As she was cleaning it up, the pain was sharper, more real, and brought me to my senses. The way out, I realized, was worse than the situation. I'd found rock bottom, and I realized that the only way left was up."

"And then you joined SHIELD."

"I thought I'd go and try to continue Adrian's life work. Honor his memory somehow. It wasn't easy, just joining global security out of the blue. It forced me to adjust virtually everything about my lifestyle. There were many times where I was second guessing myself as to why I even joined. But I figured that if I could stop myself from dying in a bathroom with a razor to my wrists, then I could survive, maybe start a new life, in SHIELD. Maybe I was numb to the world around me. Maybe I pushed every trainee and agent who failed too hard. But I did it so that none of them would die like Adrian did, or worse, get hurt by a loss. I basically became the cold-hearted bitch I am to keep others from going what I went through."

"And that 'cold-hearted bitch' proved to have the warmest heart of all," said Frank, the confidence surging in him to reassure her of what she just said. "Not many people could be able to do that. Pull off this façade you've been running, I mean. And you didn't just join SHIELD; you became its Deputy Director. Adrian would have been proud of what you've accomplished with your life." A small smile on her part confirmed that his words were of some comfort. "And your parents too, I hope."

"Nope. No way that abusive son of a bitch and a stepmother who was gone half the time were going to let their daughter surpass them. I rarely hear from them, and it's usually some trivial matters they tell me about, if anything. It's better that way. I don't suppose your parents were any better?"

"Not really. Both my mother and father were second generation Italians with both a nasty conservative outlook and traditionalist streak, so anything I did more or less was condemned. Then there was Father Carlo, a kindly man but one too wrapped up in his Bible. My parents invited him too many times than not. At first I hated my parents. What an uptight and restrictive pair of cretins they were. But I'd rather have had them there than not. They taught me how the world worked and how to care. I'll never be able to thank them enough for that."

"With that I wish it would have been the same." She pointed out another nasty looking scar on her arm. "My birth mother died not long after I was born, and my father never forgave me for it. That came from a belt buckle when I didn't prepare my dad's coffee just right one time in the ninth grade. And there's far worse…" She began to wipe actual tears from the corner of her eye.

Frank took her hand with his own. "Forget about it. He's not going to ever hurt you again. You don't rely on him, and you've already proven to be a better person. I know you have an indomitable will. Keep it that way."

"Frank, I'm deeply flattered. Truly I am. It's just…" She looked into his eyes, and they interlocked. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because now I know for certain we truly are alike. You want to know something I've never told anyone?"

"Sure."

"Suicide. I tried it too. Every day for a month after my first killings, I'd sit for my meals and place two things next to my food: a bottle of Jack, and a pistol. I'd take a big sip, place the barrel of the gun in my mouth for a few minutes, debate to myself whether I wanted to pull the damn trigger, and put it down. It became a ritual of sorts. After a month of this, I noticed something strange. Everything I ate had this weird taste of gunmetal. Didn't matter what it was. And during that time, I hated eating. Maybe it was a small, stupid thing that gave me a reason to live, but sometimes that's enough, especially when the alternative is nothing."

"You're telling me that you chose to live because you like your food?"

"Obviously. I want my food to taste like to should."

Maria couldn't keep a straight face. "That doesn't sound like a Punisher thing to do; deciding to live because of your food. I thought your life's new purpose was a one-man war on crime."

"That came after the food. A hobby, you know. Something to do in my spare time." They both had a good laugh.

"See?" he said. "You talked, I talked, and neither of our heads has fallen off."

"So the worst didn't happen."

"Halleluiah."

A little while later and a few more drinks, Frank stretched his arms. "I'm gonna call it a night."

"I'm going to stay her for a few more minutes," said Maria. "It's a nice view." She touched his shoulder. "Thank, Frank."

"All part of the service, ma'am."

And then he kissed her.

It wasn't anything special, just a kiss on the forehead, but he did, and she didn't look entirely surprised or anything.

When Frank stood up, Maria looked confused. "Was that you or…"

"That was me wishing you good night." To him it was probably more, though.

"Well," she gave him a look that he thought signaled mixed emotions. "Good night, Frank."

"Likewise."


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, haven't updated on this site in a while. Hopefully someone on this site is reading this. Do leave feedback/kudos!

Frank Castle woke to the sound of a buzzing alarm clock at 6:30 in the morning. As customary for him, he got up, showered, and hit the gym. As usual, Rogers was there already, but he ignored him. The super-soldier wasn't his the focus of his attention, the treadmill machine was. And Maria Hill.

 _Focus, Frank,_ he thought to himself.  _You don't need distractions._ But at the same time, he didn't see her as a distraction. He saw her as a person like him. She was someone he could relate to, unlike all these happy people that called themselves the Avengers.

Maria Hill, on the other hand, woke up that morning to the sound of a solid humming. When she found the urge to get herself out of bed and investigate, she found Frank Castle at the bar, using a smoothie machine. A quick glance at him showed that he'd just gotten back from the gym on the lower floor.

"Morning," he grunted. "Don't tell me I woke you, or did I?"

"Actually, yes. I should add that to a list." Unknown to him, she'd been kept up until two in the morning thinking about how the Punisher, a man who destroyed mobs as a life's work, showed her more affection than anyone had in a decade. Sure, it was one kiss, and there were men who kissed on the cheek as a greeting. But it was a kiss on the forehead. And last night wasn't a greeting; it was the tale of two people angry at the world who needed to vent to each other.

But could she trust him? He was still the FNG (by that she meant time with the Avengers, he was by no means inexperienced in his line of work) and Stark's reasons for bringing him on board were still clouded in mystery.

"Of what? 'Things Frank Castle does to piss me off.' How does that sound?" He didn't smile or laugh, but he still thought it was funny enough.

"Keep talking like that, Frank, and you'll be the military version of Tony Stark."

"Please." He poured two cups of the smoothie. "Strawberry-banana flavored, protein enhanced. Here's two for us, and plenty more where that came from."

Maria started to take in Frank's random act of kindness, and it was delicious. "Thanks, this is really nice of you, but don't you think-"

"He should save some for us? I think yes." The interruption came from Tony Stark, dressed in a Metallica shirt and jeans. He was followed by people whom one might consider more professionally dressed: Pepper Potts in her suit, Bruce Banner in a lab coat, and a young Asian woman, also in lab gear. Frank guessed she was at least ten years younger than himself.

"Looks like I have some more introducing to do," said Stark. "Dr. Cho, meet Frank Castle and Maria Hill. AKA my two man jacks of all trades security team. Frank and Maria, meet Doctor Helen Cho. She's going to be helping Banner and I down in the lab on a bunch of things."

"Hi." Frank gave Cho a firm handshake. "So how long are you sticking around?"

"As long as it takes to complete our work." She looked at Banner, who nodded.

"Well, I suppose someone's hungry," said Frank, "because I just finished making some-"

All of a sudden an ear-splitting alarm went off. Maria had to cover her ears to keep it from being unbearable, and she wasn't the only one. "JARVIS," groaned Stark, "What the hell was that for? I told you that line was only for emergencies-"

"It is, sir. Someone is attempting a hack of the Stark Tower systems, and it's moving at an alarming pace.

"Shit. Someone get me the computer." Soon Tony was pounding away at the keys of the keyboard, while Frank grumbled, Maria rolled her eyes for the tenth time, and Banner was standing away, not wanting to be accidently releasing the Hulk for any reason. After a good ten minutes Stark let his hands off the keyboard with a whoosh sound and whistled.

"Solved it. It's trapped in some router no one here even uses anyways. Oddly enough, it attempted to get into just about everyone's files here. Steve's, mine, Frank's, Bruce's, Maria's, Thor's, like they wanted a comprehensive guide to the Avengers or something."

"You wouldn't have a clue on who did this, would you?" asked Banner.

"Nope. Though I'll have JARVIS working on it ASAP. Now Frank, about those pancakes."

Frank checked on the frying pan. "Perfect."

* * *

After they finished breakfast, Stark got a notification on the virus. "Sir, I've found the source of the attempted incursion," said JARVIS. "Mark Anderson; the virus has a number of codes he's used one time too many."

"Who's that?" asked Frank.

"Mark Anderson was considered to be the next version of me," said Tony. "Kid graduated from high school at the age of ten and got a Ph.D from Stanford at the age of fifteen. And by the time he was eighteen, he nearly handed a nuke over to the Ten Rings. Using his cyber-wizardry, he hacked into an Air Force base and stole every security passcode needed to access the base and its armory from the outside."

"And why have I never heard of this?"

"Simple: Anderson fell to greed. After getting his million dollar advance from the Ten Rings, he tried to extort the Air Force for double that amount. However, my friend Rhodey managed to put two and two together. He arranged for the attack to be a glorious failure and wiped out Anderson's Swiss bank account for good measure. Since then he's been on the run from everybody and makes what he can as a cyber-mercenary."

"So you want me to track him down?'

"That would be nice Frank, but I've got JARVIS working on it. I would just need you to go the actual location and get what we need from him. In the meantime, go enjoy yourself. Spend some time in the city. And Maria, you're free to go do whatever you were telling me about. Though you never give me the details."

 _Barely a few days out of the hospital and she's already out and about,_ thought Frank.

"Care to tell me where you're going?" asked Frank as Maria headed towards the elevator in a business-like fashion.

"Confidential, just like I told Stark," she replied, also business-like.

"I thought we weren't doing the whole 'secrets' thing anymore." he said back, crossing his arms.

Maria swung around to face him. "Frank, I appreciated last night. I know you did too. It's just that I don't know how much I can trust you with. When sober, I mean. And people like us have trust issues; I know you do."

"Ain't your fault."

"Of course I know that. How do I know you won't puke out everything I tell you, and have told you, one day?"

"Because I daresay I'm a friend. A friend who understands you better than those superheroes. People like us could use each other," he said, holding her arm gently. Even her distraught complaining was sexy to him.

She brushed him off. Coldly, he might put, but with Maria Hill you could never be certain. "Little tip of advice: be careful who you share weaknesses with. Some people just can't wait for the time to use them against you." She turned again and pressed the button for the bottom floor, and the elevator door shut between them.

That last line had him thinking. She was talking about herself, but it could have applied to him. Bringing another woman into his life wouldn't make him weak. Could it?

He noticed that the whiskey bottle was gone again. It didn't take a genius to guess who had it.

Frank sighed again and packed the duffel bag he had prepared for the day. In the week since the Avengers had returned from Greece, Stark had allowed Frank to go to each of his safehouses and gather up all the equipment he would need. In addition to a new van painted with the Stark Industries logo on it, Frank had also acquired anything he could ever want via Tony's contacts around the world. Today's arsenal included a UMP45 that Frank could disassemble and put back together in a considerably short time frame, a Glock in each holster, a grenade belt, a riot shield, and an RPG. You never knew when an RPG just might come in handy.

His phone buzzed. It was Maria.  _The person I'm meeting with is presumed dead._

 _Now you tell me. Fury?_  It was the first person to come to mind.

_No, not him. Coulson._

* * *

The Punisher parked his van in a parking lot and walked over to a small convenience store around the block. He knew where he was: Hell's kitchen. News of a man in a black mask had spooked half the inhabitants, and the mob was desperate to find out all about him, so he decided to investigate. He picked up a small local paper about this 'devil' and began to read it when he heard a commotion outside.

A boy, perhaps twelve at most, was being harassed by what appeared to be a well-organized group of enforcers. He wasn't sure why they were beating on a kid, but the leader made his intentions very clear: "You do what I say, or you get killed!"

"I'm not going to smuggle weapons for you!" the boy exclaimed.

"Fine," said the gang leader. "Let him have it!"

The gangsters proceeded to start beating the boy to death. Frank reached for his right holster, about to go outside and teach these punks some life lessons.

"You strike them down, there'll be five more of those savages tomorrow."

Frank turned and saw the man at the cashier, who was in his fifties and in a wheelchair. "Trust me, I tried doing that in the exact same situation. Only thing was, it was a girl they were about to gang rape. The next night, I get this." He motioned at his wheelchair. "Twenty years in law enforcement and I come here to this shit."

"I'm sorry." Frank truly was.

"Don't be. Hell's Kitchen is falling apart all around me. And this store has the best seats in the house. You gonna buy anything or not?"

Frank laid down a good amount of money. "Bottle of Jack. I once promised someone I loved I would never go back to my darker days, but for shit like this I make exceptions. And besides, it's time to try something fun."

* * *

After dealing with the thugs with just the empty bottle, and letting the boy run off safely, Frank turned his attention to the leader, the nastiest of the group. It was only fitting that he was the most beat up of the bunch, with numerous broken bones and a face gushing red. Frank dragged him to the back of his van.

"I'm going to ask a few questions, and you're going to answer them. Understand?"

The mob underboss didn't look intimidated. "You think you're better than us because Tony Stark is your cover story-"

Frank bent the man's elbow. Hard. "Let's just say I got this van on loan. Now do you understand?" No reply. Frank assumed that meant yes.

"Tell me what you know about Wilson Fisk." The Punisher knew that question was bound to get a response of some kind out of him.

"I-I don't know, he just tells us to patrol these streets, and anything else that-"

Frank's phone began buzzing in his pocket. He shut the guy's mouth with one hand and scooped out the phone in the other. It was Stark calling. "I'm in the middle of an interrogation," said Frank, pissed at having to be interrupted. "This better be important."

"Oh, it is. I just need you to come back to the tower. You work for me, remember? And I don't even want to think about what the hell you're doing in Hell's Kitchen. Just get your ass here ASAP."

"Fine." Frank let out a string of curses, then wacked the goon's forehead with a gun and dumped him in the parking lot to wake up some time later. When he got back to Avengers Tower, Stark was at the front door waiting for him.

"So JARVIS managed to track down where Anderson is. Apparently he's been sending one of his ex-girlfriends love letters disguised as span. I read the latest of them, they turn out to be invitations to join him at the Casablanca Hotel in Times Square. Popular place for romantic getaways in the city."

Frank went through some other evidence JARVIS had fished out. Anderson had a small security team around the hotel grounds and Anderson's floor. That told Frank two things: one, this supposedly down on his luck hacker had some connected friends, and two, infiltrating the hotel was going to be harder. Stark confirmed that last bit by saying, "Not really much of a way to break in without making some noise. But I think you're up to the challenge."

"Please. And do you have any of your toys from the laboratory I could use?"

"Yep. Camera disablers, for one."

"That's all I need."

* * *

It was Friday night. Mark Anderson laid down on his couch and stretched. His ex – or rather, his girlfriend again once more – snored lightly, her red hair trailing towards him. She'd been asleep for most of the day, and Mark couldn't blame her. After their very enjoyable night together, it was hard not to want to regain, well, the energy lost. Having waken up himself, Mark combed his own sandy blonde hair in a mess, swiftly got out of his jeans and shirt, and went to the shower.

As the hot water calmed him and his senses, Mark faintly heard noises outside. They sounded like thumps, but Mark dismissed it. Probably the guards fooling around. He really needed to find out who arranged for them to provide over watch for this little vacation. As he finished his shower, he also heard the door to the hallway creak. Probably Joanna waking up and going to get some food.

As Mark finished dressing, he suddenly found a man, dressed in a trench coat and a shirt with a death's head on it, pointing a gun at his head. His first instinct was to cry for help, but this man had already anticipated that and grabbed him, clamping down at Mark's mouth with a gloved hand. "Not a sound," he said with a threatening attitude. "Not another sound. Your two friends outside are dead. If you don't want to join them, you'll do exactly as I say."

The Punisher took his hands off Anderson. Immediately he spoke in what wasn't a whisper but still a soft voice, to keep Joanna from waking up. " Ok, ok. Can I ask you something first?"

"One question."

"Did the Kingpin send you? Cause if he did, I've got what he wants. I just didn't have the time to-"

"Wilson Fisk did not send me. Santa Claus did. You've been a bad boy on the internet."

Anderson gulped in his mouth. Frank thought he wasn't thinking of Fisk, but not the person Frank was seeking out. "Wrong guess again. Now I start asking questions. Starting with who's paying for this vacation."

"I don't know man."

Frank pressed the barrel of the gun into Mark's forehead hard. "Change of plans. I'm going to start a story and you're going to complete it. Once upon a time, by which I mean this morning, you were hired to send a virus to Stark Tower. Continue please."

"Um… they sent me a random email through a dummy account. This was about a week ago, with instructions. Gave me a hundred thousand to start and another hundred thousand once I completed it. That's where the vacation and guards come from, whoever this is. They also gave me some programs they wanted me to look at and see if I could help them to get it working again."

Frank was confused. It seemed like whoever hired Mark viewed him as an eventual loose end. But if that was the case, why not just kill him? Why have those men look after him instead? "Do you have what your mystery employer gave you to work with?"

"C'mon man, they're going to kill me if I give you that."

"If that's the case, I'll personally be putting the bullet in your head."

"Alright, alright, yea I saved it all." He pulled out a USB flashdrive from the top drawer of the bathroom sink and handed it to Frank. "Don't even know why I'm doing this. I don't even know your name. Are you a hitman who works for Stark?"

"No.

"Then what are you?"

"It's complicated and none of your business. Are there any other men assigned to watch over you?"

"They take shifts, from my observations. Every two days I get new ones."

Good, thought Frank. That gave him a window to set up shop in the neighboring hotel room (which the now-dead guards had been staying in) and investigate everything that Anderson gave him. Maybe he could rest there for the night too.

He realized he was going to miss Hill tonight. Still couldn't figure out why, as Frank had been careful in the past few years to avoid getting close to anyone.

Maybe because she had been the same way. Opposites attract, but similarities stick together, for better or worse.

He was about to head on over to the other room when he heard a voice. Frank froze. Adrenaline was rushing through his body.

"Baby?" asked Mark's girlfriend. "Who's that?" Her eyes were locked on Frank Castle.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. I've wrapped this up at Fanfiction.net but haven't bother to post here for a while, so here it is. Enjoy.

Of all this situations Frank had planned out in his head in cases of an emergency, this one he had assumed was the least likely to happen. And yet it did.

Frank fumbled what he was going to say in case of this. He had made a plan in case things went to shit, but not in this manner.

Then Anderson came to an unexpected rescue. "Honey, this is one of the new security guys. He just got here and wanted to say hello." Mark's girlfriend went to shake his hand.

"I, um, have some business to attend to with your boyfriend." Mark gave him an odd look, but the glance the Punisher told him one thing: go along with it.

"Oh, okay. Come back to me soon babe, alright?" Her voice was very seductive, and Frank could tell it was working wonders on Mark.

"Will comply." With that, Frank escorted Mark to the next room. Dragging the dead bodies into the closet, he set up a throwaway laptop and an ordered the hacker to show him everything. "Take your little stick and download everything on it on my computer. Got it?"

"I'm not stupid, but it's going to take a few minutes to set up on here." While Anderson did that, Frank turned on the TV, and switched to news. The latest reports of what had happened to the Russian mob were making waves, along with the cops who'd been found dead, supposedly at the hands of the man in black. He didn't know much about that, but Frank wanted to meet this vigilante who'd set himself up in the city one day.

"It's up and running," said Mark, finished with his work. "The first program is a list of some kind. It's massive, well over a million names." Frank turned off the TV and looked through some of the names. Most he didn't recognize, but he did see a few of note: a US senator, several ambassadors, minor mob leaders. "Does this thing have a search button or any organization?" he asked, needing some details on the work.

"Yeah. Five levels, Alpha being the 'top priority' or something like that." Mark made a few clicks and a new list opened up. Frank realized that a few of the names were in red. He then realized that most of those names were people who were dead, such as Aldrich Killian. Or, in the case of Nick Fury, presumed dead. "Scroll up to the top of the list." At the top were, of no surprise to Frank, the Avengers. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner topped the list.

He took passing glances. Maria Hill, President Ennis, a doctor named Stephen Strange. He even spotted his own name in the top fifty. He remembered about Project Insight, and then the gears in his mind clicked. Those Helicarriers had targets, but no one knew an exact list…

Here it was. All of Insight's targets, saved on one flash drive and given to Mark Anderson for safekeeping. He had to get the news out. He whipped out his phone and dialed Maria.

The ringer went on for a minute before she picked up the phone. "Frank," she said with an impatient air, "Now is not the best time to call. I had to put Nick Fury on hold for you. This better be important."

"It is. Tell me, what happened to the program that selected Insight's targets?"

She hesitated. For a second. "It was uploaded into the helicarriers. We assumed that it went down with the ship."

Frank laughed. "Well, that wasn't the only copy around, because I'm looking at a list with your name, mine, and the names of very important people worldwide." During this time, Frank kept a pistol aimed at Anderson in case he attempted to take off while he was talking.

Maria connected some the dots, but not the ones they needed the most. "Frank," replied Maria, "I'm confused. How does Insight's target list connect with Mark Anderson's attempted hack of Stark Tower?"

"I'm about to find out. Hold on a second." He put his phone on hold, then pressed the gun harder into Mark's head and said, "How does your virus connect with Insight's target list?"

Mark began to pant. "He's going to kill me if I tell you that…"

"The man who sent you the email? You know him, don't you? Give me his name or I'm going to place a pillow on your face?"

"A pillow? Why?"

"The gunshot is going to be loud in here, and I don't want your girlfriend knowing." Frank let Mark whine and sob for a few seconds. "Do you want to reconsider your answer?"

"Tony Masters! We were roommates in my freshman year of college. I swear, that's the only time I've encountered him. I wasn't too concerned with where my money was coming from, you know?"

"Yeah, because it's all about money, isn't it?" Frank could see how Anderson could be played into this foil. "Now tell me the connection between the Insight target list and the virus."

"The virus was never meant to succeed. It was only supposed to plant trackers on everyone it could find on the list that was databanked in the Tower in one form or fashion. If I had to guess, Masters is doing the same elsewhere to other people-"

He was whacked in the head with a pistol butt. Out.

Frank put Maria back on the phone. "Maria, listen to me. Mark Anderson's virus planted trackers on our mobile devices. As soon as I hang up, tell Stark and Banner about this, and then ditch your phone ASAP. Assume they're already following you." Before she could even reply a word, Frank hung up and threw his own phone out the window. It was a burner; easily replaceable.

Frank picked up the unconscious Anderson, put him in a fireman's carry, and walked out and into the lobby. He walked as quickly as possible and ignored anyone asking if he needed help or medical attention. However, he noticed at least three heads turned at him as he walked out and dumped Anderson in the van. "Hey pal," asked one of the men, "looks like your friend could use some help."

"Not interested. He'll be fine." Frank immediately distrusted these men. Could they have been watching him while he was interrogating Anderson? He hoped not, but kept his eyes open as he took out his keys and unlocked the van.

He noticed that they got in their cars not long after he started his. Hoping to lose them, Frank used all the tricks in the book to confuse them: the four left turns trick, stopping for a bathroom break, and so on. But each time, Frank noted that they were always watching him. Not trying to capture or kill him on the spot, but rather observation. That didn't sound right.

So on his next turn, Frank tried a new approach. He pulled the van down a dark alleyway, got out, and hid in the shadows. Sure enough, one of the tag team followed not long after, holding a flashlight and a silenced pistol. When he got close enough, Frank reached out, knocked the pistol aside, and clamped down on his mouth to keep him from screaming. He smelled of beer and cigarettes, like Frank used to the first few months of being the Punisher.

"You and your friends have been following me ever since I left the hotel. Tell me why."

"Hail HYDRA-"

Frank pulled out a knife and stabbed him hard in the gut. He winced in pain, but the Punisher kept the screaming to a minimum. "Give me an answer. You're going to die anyways," he told the would-be assailant as blood oozed onto the ground.

The man cursed in Russian, then reverted to English. "It doesn't matter how many of us die. There will always be more. And some of you is sure to fall with us-"

A ping bounced off the wall. With no time to waste, Frank dropped the first man, who was good as dead, and slipped back into the shadows. The other two men, also armed with just pistols and flashlights, began searching the area. One of them went to check on the wounded man, who was unconscious. As he bent down, he knelt – and fell down as well.

Frank had placed a bullet in his head. He then lunged at the third man, who was smarter and still on his feet. This guy punched back a few times, before Frank twisted both his arms and threw him to the ground, pistol to the temple. "Maybe you can fill me in where your friend left off."

"We'll get someone for the boss." His voice sounded like a local. Brooklyn, Frank guessed. "Someone's gonna get it. If not you, then Stark, the Hulk, or your hot brunette friend-"

Frank put a bullet between his eyes. The last of them had may have been listing, but it was an actual threat. He had to get back to Stark Tower and see who was accounted. Before he did that though, he drove to one of his safehouses and dropped off Anderson. He wasn't letting him in Stark's place, but he wasn't letting him go away either. The others would have a use for him later. He dumped the hacker on a couch, stripped him of his belongings, and put a note on the coffee table:  _The place is locked. Don't do anything stupid._

During the drive, he worried for Hill's safety. Sure, she was as tough as they came with SHIELD, but against a man like the Taskmaster and small army of mercenaries he had at his beck and call… Frank didn't want to think about it, even if he was going ten miles past the speed limit.

The police had set up a barricade around the tower. With the bombing of the Russians and now reports of an attack on Stark Tower, the police were more alert than on a typical night. Frank actually had to use his Stark Industries ID card to get past the pigs.

As he parked the van at Stark Tower, he quickly noticed the commotion and chaos surrounding the parking area and lobby. Moving past terrified valets and staff members, he ran into Pepper Potts. "Thank God you're here," she said to Frank. "There were at least a dozen of them, they were demanding you, Tony, Natasha-"

He tried his best to keep the CEO of Stark Industries from having a breakdown. "Alright, stay calm. Where's Tony now?"

"30th floor. That's where he works on his Ultron Program." Another shattering of glass caused her to scream again. "Get out of here!" roared Castle. "I'll put an end to this."

Frank then took the elevator without a word. He found a goon waiting for him, which resulted in a complete delay of five seconds. When he finally reached the 30th floor, he was hit by a body coming at him fast. Once he pulled it off of him, he saw Black Widow standing in front of him. She was covered in blood.

"Seriously? I just got here." He whipped out his pistol and shot another assailant dead. The only one left, by Frank's count.

"Thanks. I owe you another one, Castle."

"Yeah, it looks like you really needed my help," said Frank, looking at the number of bodies scattered about. This was Natasha's work, no doubt. However, some of the bodies were riddled not with bullets, but arrows. "How the hell did they even get in here?"

"Pepper said they claimed to be government officials insisting they take a look around. When Stark told them there was no such meeting they whipped out submachine guns and started shooting up the place. They also had some expensive technology to force their way past locks and such. I was the closest to Stark and just did my thing." She looked towards a shadow, where a familiar face with a bow in hand stood. "So did he, luckily enough. He just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

"You mean like Budapest?" Clint Barton flashed one of his signature  _told you so_  smiles.

"Budapest was nothing like that," said Romanoff in reply. "If I recall correctly, Coulson-"

"Cut the chitchat." Frank Castle was rarely for this kind of talk. "Who's accounted for and who's not?"

"Well, there's the three of us," said Barton, crossing his arms and leaning an interactive screen with cracks in it. "Tony's check on Bruce upstairs, who was passed out during this whole thing, full credit to him. Thor's still in London, and Steve is still trying to find his friend in Russia, if I recall correctly."

"And Maria Hill?" Frank reloaded his pistol.

"She was supposed to be picked up by Happy tonight," said Natasha. "I'll call her-"

"Don't. The virus from yesterday was a decoy. It was only supposed to plant trackers in our phones, laptops, you name it. Ditch it; it's how they found us."

"Okay," replied Romanoff in a sarcastic tone as she disassembled her phone on the table. 'How do you suggest we find her now?"

"I don't know. Not yet, at least."

* * *

"Thanks for picking me up, Happy." Maria Hill was not having a good day. Coulson, as good natured as he was, once again seemed erratic and keeping to himself. Whatever he was doing with Gonzalez, it was being kept wrapped up and out of sight. That was not the Phil Coulson she knew. And then Frank tells her that her phone is compromised.

After ditching the phone (to be on the safe side, she had others) Maria did a walk around the terminal to check for any watchers Masters or HYDRA may have sent to follow her. Only when she was satisified that there were none in the airport did she try and find Happy. He was expecting a phone call or text as notification, but he was going to have to settle for meeting in person.

"Of course, anything for a friend. Though you should have texted me or something; would've saved us a good ten minutes," Happy replied as they walked out the main terminal and towards the limo Happy had taken to the airport.

"Castle was following up on leads from the attempted incursion from yesterday. They were tracking our phones-"

She was interrupted by a gigantic explosion that consumed Happy's limo. Maria took a second to recover, and then spotted the perpetrator: a pair of men in cameo, one wielding an RPG. She took out her sidearm, shot the first man clean, and was prepared to shoot the other when an all-too familiar voice came from behind.

"You know, I'm not supposed to kill you. But if you use that gun again, I will kill this man."

She swung around and pointed the gun at the other attacker, holding a half conscious Happy by the throat and placing a gun in his ear. He was dressed in black and wearing a skull-themed balaclava. But Maria recognized that voice. She'd known it for years, and she'd never forget how it sounded.

"Hello, Rumlow," she said with bitterness. "I was wondering if I would actually miss you."


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I haven't kept up with getting the rest of this posted on Ao3. Better late than never, I suppose. Hopefully someone will read this and enjoy. And if that happens to be you, do let me know.

_Hello, Rumlow," Maria Hill said with bitterness. "I was wondering if I would actually miss you."_

"I'd say the same about you. Or maybe not." Brock Rumlow's features, most likely scarred following his extensive injuries during Insight, were covered quite handily by his skull-patterned balaclava.

"How'd you survive that fall from the Triskelion?" Maria hoped that by distracting Rumlow with talking, she might just get a clear shot at his head. Civilians around them were running in all directions, trying to distance themselves from the standoff.

"Let's just say I have friends in a lot of places. One of those friends wants you alive, and I owe him a few favors." He jammed his pistol in Happy's head harder. "Now get rid of your gun, and I promise you he's gonna go away unscathed."

She slowly put up her hands, but held on to her gun. "I said get rid of the gun," barked Rumlow.

Suddenly, like a flash of lighting, she shot Rumlow so fast that even she was surprised. "I like my gun where it is; in my hand."

Rumlow groaned and clutched the hole in his shoulder. "Then I guess I'll have to shoot you."

Maria took several steps closer to the former STRIKE team leader, careful not to arouse Rumlow's suspicions. "I thought Masters want you to take me alive."

"I'm going to shoot you in the leg." Without warning, another assaliant dropped Happy and shot Maria in the leg in a fraction of a second. She fell to the ground, clutching onto the entry wound and trying to stop the bleeding.

"Got you out a pickle," the faceless man said to Rumlow with a heavy Scottish accent.

"Don't remind me," Rumlow said back. "It's a shame really," said Rumlow to Maria as he called for his men to prepare a fake ambulance for getaway. "You have nice legs. A pity I had to ruin them."

"Son of bitch," Maria cursed.

"It's just one leg. The Taskmaster has much more in store," said Rumlow. The other man pulled out an anesthetic and injected it in Maria, and the world around her went dark.

* * *

"No, that's all. Thank you for your time." Natasha Romanoff slammed the new burner phone (courtesy of Frank Castle) and cursed in several different languages. "Another dead end. We need to find Happy. He's the last known person that saw her."

Once Maria Hill was unaccounted for, the group began a manhunt (or what they could do from the Tower, to be more specific) and went down every lead they could think of. All of them had come to naught thus far.

Frank was pacing to himself, lost in his own thoughts. "Yeah, yeah, do what you need to." Stark began to attempt to videocam Happy via the limo he'd given his personal chauffeur. "Damnit," said Stark. "It's not working. Please don't tell me they killed him-"

"Sir," said JARVIS, "Mr. Hogan has just arrived. He appears to be in bad condition." A security camera from the lobby showed that he had to be carried in on the shoulders of two valets.

"Shit. I gotta check on him." Stark went to the elevator, accompanied by Frank and Romanoff. The elevator rid was silent; the three of them had more urgent matters on their minds that do make idle chitchat. When they arrived on the first floor, they found Happy to indeed be in awful condition. His face had taken a beating, and his suit was in tatters. "Jesus, Happy!" Stark exclaimed. "What the hell happened?"

It took the wounded chauffeur to recollect. "T-They came while we were about to leave the airport. Professionals, knew what they were doing. At least four by my guess, probably more."

"Did they take Maria?" asked Frank.

Happy nodded uneasily. "One of them she knew, name was Rumlow or something."

"Brock Rumlow," gasped a shocked Natasha. "He was the HYDRA leader of the STRIKE team. We thought he died during insight."

"That seems to be a common theme around here," said Frank. The more time he spent around the Avengers, the more he felt they couldn't clean up their own messes. "You should really recheck SHIELD's inventory, Romanoff. At this rate those three helicarriers will be salvaged-"

"Do you ever put a lid on it, Castle?" Natasha wasn't in the mood for vigilante griping.

"Only when it doesn't cost lives and time. Neither of which anyone seems to have spares of around here-"

"Okay, calm down, angel of death," cut in Stark, sensing the tension and wanting it done with. "We're going to do everything we can to find her, but only if we work together. At least that's what Steve would say. Happy, can you tell us anything else?"

"Well, I was passed out most of the time. And it looks like this place fared no better." He took in the aftermath of the gun battle in the lobby, which Frank guessed was also courtesy of Clint and Natasha.

"Well, Happy, you get checked up with Dr. Banner while Pepper and I'll deal with the media shitstorm that's a 'brewing out there." Pepper was already being bombarded with reporters from all over the city. Stark went by her side to draw some of the attention away from her and onto him.

Frank and Natasha stood around awkwardly for a few moments as Tony gave his sarcastic responses to the media. Frank suddenly walked off towards his van, guns loaded. "Where do you think you're going?" asked Romanoff.

"Going to follow up on some work I was doing before this shit. Want to join me?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "You're going to have to be more specific than that to get me to join you."

Frank turned his head. "Stark got hacked. The man who sent the virus was working for Masters. He's also the one who planted trackers on our phones. Do I have your attention now, Romanoff?"

"Yes you do," she replied, instantly recognizing what kind of "work" Castle was up to. "And I'd love to be a part of it." They walked out the Punisher van, without bothering to tell Stark (he didn't need to know anyways). They drove along the freeway for several minutes in relative silence.

"Word's getting around that you and Hill have something going on," said Natasha, gazing out at the light traffic of New York.

"You too? I thought you weren't the type for gossip."

"I'm a female spy and assassin. Using a woman's tools is essential for my trade," replied Natasha, averting her gaze to Frank. "You're as easy to read as Cap, despite the whole 'I'm a one man judge, jury, and executioner' thing you play off to everyone. And you're falling for Maria."

"Like I told Clint and Tony, I-"

"Don't. With men as closed up as you, I can tell affection as soon as the ice melts even a little."

The Punisher just stared at her. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he wasn't in the mood for children's games. He had a job to do.

"I could tell the same with Maria, last I talked with her," continued Black Widow as Frank got off the freeway. "I'll be honest: I think this is good for both of you. People like you and her-"

Frank swung the car a hard right and turned into an alley. "What the hell, Frank? I'm trying to have a conversation-"

"We're here." He shut off the car and pulled out a different set of keys.

"Oh. Tell me next time before you do that again." She got out and looked around. A typical slum area by the looks of it, but with the Punisher you didn't go to just any place without good reason. "How far from here?"

"One door." The Punisher unlocked the various locks that he had placed on the door and swung it open. It wasn't a big place, but a man could live in here anonymously and in relative comfort in case of an emergency. It even had a refrigerator and an old TV on one wall. It was on, tuned to some game show. Mark Anderson was watching it, though he looked bored.

Frank grabbed Anderson and placed him down in a wooden chair. "Hello again," said Frank. "I told you I'd be back. Now, me and my friend here need to have another chat."

* * *

The first thing Maria woke up seeing was light. Light was everywhere, and was all pointed in her direction.

That, and the throbbing pain coming from her leg; the leg Rumlow had shot.

Getting to her senses, she found herself handcuffed to a table and tied to a chair. The room was painted white and looked like it hadn't been used for years. It looked familiar to her, and then she saw it: an old SHIELD logo on one of the glass windows facing outside.

This had to have been Masters' work, no doubt. If it was HYDRA she'd already be dead or worse. As if to subconsciously confirm her suspicions, Masters himself walked in the room, accompanied by two heavily armed guards. Masters had upgraded his armor and weaponry in the days since their last encounter. He was now wearing a tactical gear version of his signature skull mask and cloak, and had a sword and shield that looked like a replica of Captain America's on his back. He pulled up a chair and motioned for his guards to stand away.

"Hello again Maria," he said with a marvelously false joy. "I'm overjoyed we could meet again, even in these circumstances. I see Rumlow managed to get you her in mostly one piece. Impressive."

"Go to hell."

"Too late for that." Taskmaster stood up and put a gun on the table, holding on to it with his left hand. "I was hoping to catch an Avenger for Von Strucker. Instead I get you. No matter. You'll do fine for questioning."

"I'll die before talking." And she meant it. She'd been trained for a situation like this, and she was prepared to face whatever tortures Taskmaster threw her way.

Masters stared at her coldly for a few seconds, and then brutally slapped her in the face back-handed. It was hard enough to leave a mark. "Really? I know how SHIELD preps you for this. Trust me, it won't work." He snapped his fingers, then one of his men gave him a soda can. "You could make this easier on yourself. Just tell me how to get into Stark's nerve center."

"Why don't you go do it yourself, you worthless piece of shit-"

Taskmaster suddenly grabbed her hand and twisted a few fingers painfully enough to break bones. To her it hurt like a bitch, but she resolved to show no pain. She didn't want Masters getting any ideas. "Worthless, you say?" roared Masters.

Maria looked at him coldly.

Masters motioned for his two guards to leave the room, and they did silently. Masters then took off hood, followed his mask. Maria could tell it caused him physical pain to do so. The face underneath it was Tony Master, but barely. Extensive scar tissue covered his entire face, his right ear was missing, and the muscles that should have covered the left side of his jaw no longer existed. There were several glimmers of bone if one took a second look at it.

Taskamaster took a sip of his soda. "See what I've become?" he asked Maria as slammed down the can. "I can't even drink a fucking soda without it stinging like a bitch.

"And that's your fault-"

"It was YOUR FAULT!" Masters was roaring in her face. "It was YOU who shot me, YOU who left me to die at the hands of Frank Castle! I spent a year in a Russian hospital, recovering what was left of my face, rebuilding my life, all because of you!"

"You have only yourself to blame. I told you we needed him alive and you disobeyed." Maria never lost her cool; she knew it would piss him off.

And it did. Masters grabbed her hair and brought her head within an inch of his own. "You look at me, bitch. You look at me and think about how you cared more for a fucking vigilante than your own teammate!"

 _If only you knew him like I do,_ thought Maria.

Unfortunately for her, Masters sensed what she was thinking and grinned. "So that's it," he said with a ridiculous smile. "You're infatuated with the Punisher. Do enlighten me as to what makes him such a worthy candidate for the hand of the ice princess?"

"All you need to know is he's twice the man you are."

"Doubt that." Taskmaster back-handed her even harder than the first time. "This gives me an idea, by the way. Originally I was going to settle with just you. But I think I can do better. Guards, get back in here. Make her get in contact with Stark. Do everything in your power to make her talk."

* * *

"You really think this info is correct, Natasha?"

"He's been beaten into submission. Of course it will." The Punisher and the Black Widow had spent fifteen minutes playing bad/good cop to force Mark Anderson to spill out everything else he knew about Taskmaster and his operations in the States. He'd given a list of several bases the Taskmaster used in the area.

Most were dead ends: an airplane boneyard, various abandoned plants and warehouse, and Masters' old SHIELD apartment. Of more interest, however, was an experimental base SHIELD had built not frar outside the city ten years ago. Natasha did some digging and all she could find was some operation named TAHITI and a request for a level 10 passcode (Nick Fury, as Director of SHIELD, was one of only two level 10 operatives. The other was Alexander Pierce, and everyone knew what happened to him).

Mark swore on his life that was all he knew about. He pleaded to Frank to allow him to contact his girlfriend, to let her know he was ok.

"No," replied an angry Castle.

"Might want to change your mind on that," smirked Natasha.

"You think I care about this asshole and his girlfriend?"

"Ironic considering you're beating the bush for a woman you care about." Black Widow pulled out her burner phone and tossed it to Anderson. "Lie to her," she told Anderson. "Tell her anything to keep her from getting worried." As Mark made the call, Frank and Natasha walked themselves into another room of the safehouse.

"I get we're playing good cop and bad cop, but I wish you'd stop taking potshots at me half the time," said Frank.

"Oh please, it's fun when you're winded up," said Natasha jokingly. "I see what Maria sees in you. You're like a dog."

"Do I look like I have the face that gets me on the cover of People magazine?"

Natasha scoffed. "Of course you're not the adorable puppy type; that's Rogers. With your dark eyes and stubble that never seems to change, you're more like a stray that walks up to your doorstep looking for a home. Once you do that, it loves you for a long time."

Frank laughed. "Come to think about it, my wife called me something very similar on our first date-"

Frank's burner phone buzzed. It was Clint. "Yes?"

"Finally, you bothered to answer. Where the hell are you? And where's Nat?"

"We went investigating some loose ends. Things holding up at the tower?"

"Not exactly. We've got the media crowd shooed away, but someone's gotten into Maria's videocam account for Stark Industries. It's been flooding our servers with videocam requests for five minutes now."

 _Taskmaster._ "Copy that, I'll be there ASAP." Frank got out of his chair and turned to Natasha. "Knock out the kid and lock the door behind you."


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really need to upload the rest of this story sooner. Then, maybe some of you can enjoy the sequel in the works. And I thought this site gave kudos by the dozens. Apparently, I was mistaken. Care to prove me wrong?

Frank and Natasha made their way to the tower as soon as they could. As they walked into the science floors they found Clint, Tony, and Bruce all pacing or doing something to calm their uneasiness. "The hell's going on in here?"

Clint pointed at Stark's webcam screen. "Masters will only speak when you get here. Best you see what he damn wants." The screen showed a blurry gray wall; Masters had set it there until the Punisher arrived to talk to him.

Frank slammed the laptop on a table with a heavy thud. "Alright you son of a bitch, you wanted to talk to me, and here I am."

As if it had a mind of its own, the camera moved in circles for a minute before settling on the Taskmaster. His outfit and mask had changed since Frank last saw him, but it was still the same smug bastard. "Finally. This was getting boring over here. One person can only take so much damage."

"What the hell did you do to her?" Frank cursed with gritted teeth.

"I personally haven't done anything in the last half hour. My men, however, have been busy at work making her puke all the secrets we can get. She's a tough little bitch, I'll give her that, but she had to crack  _sometime_. How else would we be talking on videocam without a good old fashion beatdown?"

Barton clinched his fists, Natasha uttered in Russian, and Frank just stared with dead eyes.

The camera moved to another room, showing a knocked out Maria. Everyone could tell she'd taken a heavy beating. "Shhhh, don't want to wake her up," commented the Taskmaster.

"I swear to God, one more comment out of your mouth-"

"And you'll do what, Castle? Kill me? You already tried four years ago and failed." The camera was now back on Taskmaster's mask. "So here's the plan. Originally I was going to ship her off to Von Strucker. Or maybe one of the half-dozen intelligence organizations that want her head; I know they'll pay a pretty penny for it. But then I realized: I can do better. Why not make a trade for someone more valuable? I thought of you. I have a score to settle with you as well. You give yourself up empty handed, and I'll drop off the woman at a location of your choosing. No backstabbing, I promise."

"Don't do it," said Clint. "He's lying, I know it."

"Oh shut up Barton," replied Masters. "Don't listen to him, Frank. I'll give you five minutes to consider my offer. If you don't take it, I kill her in an hour. Maybe I'll send you the audio." The videocam reverted to gray static.

The room immediately erupted into one big argument. "We're not negotiating with a terrorist," growled Clint. "No way are we making a deal with that motherfucker."

"Do we really have much of an option?" asked Bruce, ever the one to prefer a solution other than fighting. "They'll kill her if we don't."

"At the cost of what?" Frank over here?" Tony gestured towards the Punisher. Frank Castle wasn't exactly an endearing man, but he'd been long enough to have the support and sympathy (if you could describe it as such) of the Avengers. The thought of getting rid of him left a nasty afterthought in more than one mind.

Throughout the argument, Frank sat with his hands in his head, contemplating. He didn't get involved in the argument circulating around him.

Finally, not bothering to listen to what they had to say, opened up the videocam until Taskmaster appeared again. "I hope you've made a decision," the jack of all trades assassin said.

"I have. And the answer is no." One could literally hear a pin drop on both sides of the videocam.

Taskmaster stared for a few seconds, then said, "Disappointing, but not a surprise, given your character."

"I wasn't finished," said Frank. "My answer is no, because I'm going to kill you. I'm going to find you, kill everyone that stands in my way, and kill you. And would you like to know how I'm going to kill you?"

"Do enlighten me."

Frank pulled out his Ka-Bar knife and showed the glimmering blade to Masters. "With this in your stomach and my fist on your face."

The Taskmaster had a blank look under his mask. Then he erupted in a fit of laughter. "Okay. I'll take your word for it. I'll be sure to tell Maria, by the way." The connection went dead.

Frank stood up and stormed off out of the science room and into the elevator, pressing the floor with the armory. Clint and Natasha followed quickly behind, talking the next elevator. When they got to the armory, they found Frank suiting himself up and loading and checking enough weapons for all the Avengers put together.

"Frank," said Clint, almost worriedly, "I hope you're not doing anything stupid." The Punisher ignored him as he reloaded a Magnum revolver and stuffed it in one of his trench coat pockets.

Natasha went next, trying a more gentle approach. "Frank, we know you care about Maria. We all do. It's just that if you're going to go out there-"

"You got a fucking problem, Romanoff? Five years ago I made a promise that I would never see anyone I care about hurt again, and to punish those that did. That promise applies now as much as it did five years ago. If either of you tries to stop me, I will not hesitate to put you down as well. Got it?"

"Not at all," replied Barton, which revealed to Frank that they'd had the same idea that he had. "Did I mention one of Strike Team Delta's specialties was hostage situations?"

* * *

The SHIELD safe house Tony Masters was using as temporary base of operations was a dry and discreet building. It was not the kind that stood out on a driveby. It had to be found with GPS and a map. Several three man teams, dressed in all black, revolved around the area, keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity that company was coming.

Consequently, Frank parked his van two blocks from the site, and didn't even drive by the safe house. He knew they'd open fire the moment they saw him. In the back seat, Natasha was loading her pistols and Widow Bites. Likewise with Clint and his arrows.

"I told you this at the tower, and I'll say this again," grunted Frank. "Taskmaster is mine. No ifs, ands, or buts. I'm calling it now. You two are welcome to help me get Maria out and kill the rest of those bastards, I'll appreciate the support. But help me God if either of your gets in the way of me and  _him_. OK?"

Natasha said nothing, just nodding to show she understood. Barton did the same.

The three of them jogged in the shadows to get closer, and made their way to a rooftop that overlooked the safe house.

"This better work." The Punisher had picked a radio off one of the assailants from earlier.

The radio crackled. A pair of the men, patrolling a parking lot, listened to it. "Yeah go ahead, team three."

"Nothing on this side, Overlord."

"Stay frosty. Taskmaster's getting real edgy, over."

Frank took aim with his sniper rifle, which he could split in three and hide in a sports bag if need be. "Professionals like us. Clint, you want the one on the left or right?"

"Does it matter?"

"Right." They dropped the mercenaries in a couple of seconds. The trio got off of the rooftop, went to the bodies, and dragged them out of sight. "We won't have much time; they're probably doing rotation shifts. We'll have to take out each group one by one." They quickly scanned the parking lot for any more enemies, and then checked the door. It was locked.

Natasha stepped forward with a complex looking lock pick. "Leave it to me, boys," she told Frank and Barton as she neutralized the lock in a matter of seconds. Pulling out her gun, she went in first, finding no one in the dimly lit reception room. She was followed by Clint and Frank, the archer with his bow at hand, the vigilante with his M4 rifle at the ready.

"Funny. Room's empty," remarked Frank. Then he heard something coming from the next room. He overheard small talk from at least two voices, maybe more. "At least two of them. Watch your eyes, kids." Frank pulled out a flashbang grenade and tossed it through the crack of the door that was open.

Immediately the men on the other side began shouting in confusion. Frank kicked the door in and counted four enemies. He quickly topped off three of them and left a fourth alive for questioning. "Maria Hill. Where is she?"

"I dunno man, I-"

Frank beat on the man's face (covered by a facemask and night vision goggles) until he felt blood. "TELL ME!"

"Two rooms down, but you'll never reach-"

Frank took out his knife and pressed it in the man's throat. He stared at him in the eyes as the life drained out.

"Got more inbound," Natasha said as another mercenary entered the room. Romanoff shot him easily, but his radio began to go off. "Preacher 3 Oxide, do you copy?"

"Shit. We're going in loud." Frank tossed another grenade into the alleyway. Three more enemies came in, returning fire. The radio crackled again. "Preacher 4, your rear flank just flatlined."

"That's impossible. No one's that good-"

"It's  _him_." The voice of Tony Masters came on. "Switch to plan B. Get a fireteam to keep him in check, and grab the package."

Frank cursed again, reloading his rifle. "We're only going to get one shot at this."

Bullets began flying, and some hit their targets. Frank took a shot to the forearm, but he'd be accustomed to such wounds in the past, and it didn't affect him. Barton, however, took a shotgun blast to the shoulder, and he fell to the floor in pain. "Shit man. How many more of those bastards are there?" He cursed as he jabbed the closest attacker with a spare arrow.

"Stay calm Robin Hood, and call Stark if you can't handle it."

The next man down was less oblivious to the danger awaiting him. "Perimeter secure, retrieving package now," he reported on his radio before the Punisher grabbed him and put a seven inch steel blade in his body.

Frank ran to the door, which appeared to be made of reinforced steel, and kicked it with his boots. Not a budge. "Planting a door charge. Close your ears, Romanoff."

She didn't. She was too experienced, just like him. The subsequent explosion was enough to send another mercenary waiting behind the door to be sent flying in the direction of Frank and Natasha. He didn't last much longer than a second.

Frank and Natasha moved in. Maria was there, on some sort of hospital bed. Her wounds looked worse in person than on a webcam feed. Natasha immediately began to get off the IV and other medical equipment Masters' men had set up while Frank tried to wake her up. "Come on, come on. I've come too far to give up on you now!"

Slowly but surely, Maria's eyes opened up. "Frank," she managed to croak out, "You shouldn't have."

"No, I'm getting you through this." Another mercenary walked in the door, but Natasha shot him in the blink of an eye.

"Frank," said Natasha, "we don't have much time. Give her to me and I'll call Stark to get her and Barton out. Cover me." As she did that, Frank attached the grenade launcher to his M4 and set out in the other door. "And where do you think you're going?" she asked.

"To finish what I started." He kicked the door and found himself in another alleyway, with a stair case a long way down. As soon as he stepped one foot in the lights above him began to turn off one by one. He could also hear voices from the stairs: "Second team, go dark. He's there, take him out."

Masters' mercs came one by one down the stairs, with taglights and night vision gear. Frank seriously contemplated shooting them one at a time, but he figured that would waste too much time, and he wanted to get to Masters soon enough. So he used the grenade launcher.

The explosion blew a hole in the stairs. It also blew a hole in everyone coming down said stairs as well. Out of the six that had been sent to kill Frank, over half were missing a heartbeat.

One of the two survivors was too weak to do anything that was a threat. Frank decided to be merciful and let him bleed out. The other was scrabbling to grab the pistol in his belt. Frank kicked him over to his front side and placed a bullet in his heart. Immediately the radio began spewing Masters' voice again. "Second team, report back to me."

"Second team is  _dead_ ," replied Frank. "Now are you actually going to come out and fight me or just send more guys for me to kill?"

"And I pity them. You'll get your wish. But not before a little surprise."

Those words were followed by a massive explosion in the alley, followed by more and heading in Frank's direction. It took all of his energy to get up the stairs before the last of the planted charges exploded where he was previously standing.

The second floor was one big grey room. Frank was standing on one end of it.

And on the other was Tony Masters, decked out with his armor and shield. "Frank Castle," he leered, "you came to die?"

"No," responded Frank. "I didn't. Because I'm not ready to die."

And then he attacked.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, if you're reading this, let me know. Comment, leave kudos, anything. I'm new to this site, so maybe I'm getting my expectations too high. In any case, enjoy.

Natasha carried Maria by the shoulder and carried her out to the first room of the safe house, setting her down. Barton was there, tending to his shoulder wound and counting his arrows.

"Clint, contact Stark. Tell him and Banner to prep the makeshift field hospital in the Tower."

As Barton did this, Natasha noticed a helicopter circling around the compound. She didn't think much of it at first, but when it kept coming back again for another run, she realized this wasn't a group of tourists. This had to be more of Taskmaster's men. Reinforcements.

"Uh, Stark?" Clint was on the phone, and totally oblivious to the danger above him. "You might wanna get ready to-"

Natasha grabbed the phone out of his hands. "Stark, we need backup. Helicopters and at least a dozen men. Get suited up and get here ASAP." She gave Tony the GPS coordinates, then reloaded her pistols. "Clint, you have any of those explosive arrows with you?"

"I wish," the archer replied. "Didn't think we'd need them."

"Then we'll hold them off as long as we can." She turned to Maria, who was regaining some of her sense, but still in no proper condition to fight. Natasha handed her a spare gun. "If all else fails."

As the helicopter descended and dropped off the first wave, Natasha and Clint opened fire on them. The element of surprise gave them an early advantage, but the others were smarter and sought cover wherever they could, returning fire as well while they were at it.

 _Come on Stark,_ Natasha thought to herself.  _Actually, come on, Frank._

* * *

Frank fired the other grenade in his grenade launcher. However, Taskmaster crouched with his vibranium shield to absorb the blow, even though he was knocked several feet to the wall. Frank opened fire with the M4, but Masters dodged the bullets with what Frank could only call crazy kung-fu gimmicks. Out of bullets, he swung with the M4 as a club, and Taskmaster countered it with his own sword, probably also made of vibranium.

"Pretty slow, old man," sneered Taskmaster as the two backed away from each other to take a collective breath. "Just like you were with you family."

"Leave the dead out of this," Frank growled.

"Right. You can't save Maria, either. Once I'm finished with you-"

Masters stopped speaking to dodge the bullets coming from Frank's M1911. After Frank had expended that magazine and had to reload, Masters threw his sword at the Punisher, hoping to throw him off balance. It almost worked. Frank regained his balance, then picked the sword and charged.

The two went back to close-quarters combat. Masters still had his shield, which he could use as an offensive weapon, but Frank had the sword in his hands, and it was a wicked four foot steel blade. It was turning into an even fight: vibranium against vibranium didn't leave much room for one side against the other.

* * *

Natasha was really hoping for Stark to get here quicker. This lot of mercenaries could be fought off by her and Barton, but if the second helicopter arriving was any indication, it would be nice to have a full compartment of Avengers available.

She was down to her last magazine and there were at least five guys still out there. "Barton, cover me. I'm going to have to do this the hard way."

"Copy that, Tasha." Barton still had enough arrows to defend their location.

Natasha and Clint held their fire, waiting for the first man to enter the gateway. Once he did, Natasha kicked him hard in the gonads while Clint pincushioned him with arrows. She then snatched the rifle out of his hands and made her way outside, using the body as a human shield to protect herself from grazing shots. She quickly prepped the G36C rifle in her hands and used to send two more of the bad guys falling down.

The body of no more use to her, Natasha threw it at the fourth man, who was reloading and unaware of his comrade's corpse flying in his direction. By the time he got it off of him, the Black Widow was at his neck with her rifle. A single bullet ended the deed.

Then she felt a nuzzle against her neck. The last of the mercenaries, dressing cameo and armed with an AK-47, forced her to her knees. "Listen very carefully," he commanded, "because if you don't do exactly what I say I'll kill you-"

He stopped talking, because a round had entered his neck and came out his cheekbone. He stood paralyzed for a few seconds, then slumped to the concrete with a heavy thud.

"You're running out of lives, Natasha," Maria said in a weak voice.

* * *

Frank was now on the floor. His armor had taken multiple hits and was even punctured in some places, with blood shed. Taskmaster had knocked away the sword and was pressing down on Frank's neck with the vibranium shield.

"You know Frank, I think the only real reason you're so pissed at me is that I'm better than you. You never could kill me."

"Or maybe I just wanted to see you suffer a little while longer."

"I was hoping I could do the same with you. Let Strucker torture you for weeks while you got to watch me desecrate your family's grave-"

That did it. Frank wasn't going to let this son of a bitch insult his family any more. He retracted the switchblade hidden in his right boot – a weapon made out of plain curiosity and boredom – and slammed his right foot as hard as he could into Taskmaster. It only hit his armor the first go round, but Frank kept at it, kicking again and again until he knew he'd hit skin. Taskmaster grunted from the pain, and this gave Frank the opportunity to get him off of him.

"You might have studied my SEAL training," said Frank, "but you sure as hell haven't studied every little detail of what I've been doing for five years."

The battle now turned into a proper fistfight. Masters had speed on his side, Frank admitted. He was prone to using all this crazy stunts and acrobat moves, obviously meant to daze and confuse the adversary. It took all of his skills to dodge every crazy throw Masters sent his way.

Then he found it: a niche in the armor Taskmaster was wearing. The armor was flexible and meant to take blows, but had to have had a weak point somewhere. That weak point happened to be the areas around the joints. Frank kicked Masters in the knee with the shoe blade again, and once again he hit flesh, judging from Masters' groan of pain.

"That fast enough for you, kid?" Frank leered.

Masters responded exactly how Frank was expecting: with rage and not much thought put into it. He ran at Frank and threw the vibranium sword at him. Frank had to dodge to avoid getting the four foot blade embedded in his face, and instead it bounced off the walls.

From there, Frank knew what to do. He was going to have to wear down Taskmaster through small strikes on the weak points. It was the only way to deal with such a talented and merciless opponent as him. Frank's knifes struck shoulders and elbows, attempting to find the weak points the armor of both joints with mixed success. It was tiring out both of them, but Frank was more accustomed to fighting with pain. He'd never take pain meds; he found they only hindered his senses and dulled his mind.

His opponent might have wanted some of those, though. Taskmaster was finally showing sights of exhaustion. "You still won't win," he panted out. "I've got a dozen more men coming to this site. You won't make it out alive."

"Maybe. But I'm taking you down with me."

* * *

Natasha noticed the second helicopter not far off in the distance. She called Stark again. "Stark, where the hell are you?! We've got more incoming-"

"Duly noted."

The helicopter was hit by a flash of red and golden light, sending several of the men riding on it falling off. Stark them proceeded to fight of those who were somehow unfazed by the initial shock, and then turned his attentions to the pilot, who was visibly scared at this point. "Land her on the ground, surrender your weapons, and my friends on the ground might let you live."

"Okay, okay." The pilot landed the helicopter next to the first one. Almost immediately after getting out Black Widow grabbed him by the collar of his neck and kicked him in the back.

"What the hell? I thought you said I'd live."

" _Might_ ," snapped back Stark. "There's a pretty big difference. For example, you  _might_ want to brush up on your English." He turned to Natasha. "All yours."

"This is going to be fun," she said as she took the terrified pilot back to his helicopter for questioning. Meanwhile, Tony turned his attention to Clint and Maria. "You two stay put. I'll have people get y'all out of here. Now where's Frank?" He asked as he began firing into the wreckage to find the vigilante he'd recruited into the Avengers.

* * *

Frank and Masters were both thrown off their feet by a rumbling that shook the floor they were standing. Pieces of the ceiling were also falling off as well. One of them hit Taskmaster and he was knocked to the floor. Dodging the pieces falling around him, Frank made his way to Masters and pulled out his knife.

"I made you a promise," he told Masters. "I told you I was going to gut you with my knife, and I intend to keep that promise."

"The hell you are," yelled Masters as he tried to sway away Frank's knife-wielding arm. It was all in vain, though, as Frank brushed it aside and began tearing apart Masters' armor. He also tore off the mask, revealing the waxy scar tissue that no doubt had been inflicted during their last fight. He then extended the knife's blade and drove it into Masters' gut. And again. And again.

He didn't stop. He wouldn't dare stop until there was nothing left of Tony Masters. This was for Maria.

He never got to fulfill that promise, though. Another explosion rocked the room sending both men flying, this time knocking them out both unconscious. Tony Stark's repulsors had blasted another hole in the wall, and the two of them just happened to be near that wall.

"Oh dear," quipped Stark. "Looks like Frank will have to wait for Masters' judgment day."

* * *

The last thing Frank remembered was driving the knife into Masters' gut for God knows how many times before losing consciousness. He awoke to find himself on a mattress in Stark's science lab. Natasha was sitting in chair next to him, obviously watching him.

"What the hell…" groaned Frank. His body was aching. And that wasn't from the fight. He looked outside; it was morning.

"You finally woke up," said Natasha. "Didn't expect you to wake up from those tranquilizers Banner gave you this early, but were out for some time."

"Some time?" Frank got up and moved himself around the room. "Where are Clint and Maria? And what happened that that bastard Taskmaster?"

"Maria and Clint are also recovering, you can find them next door. As for Taskmaster… let's just say he won't be a problem again.

As Natasha was saying this, Tony Stark, still decked out in his Iron Man armor, was moving Tony Masters along in a classified location. Gatling guns and turrets lined every corridor and nook.

"You really set up all of this for  _me_ , Stark? I feel honored," Masters let out with a weak grin.

"It's not for you. It's to keep Frank and Maria from trying to break in and kill your ass. And as much as I want to let them, you'll suffer more when you're alive than dead."

Stark threw Masters into the cell at the end of the hallway. It was small, just ten feet by ten feet, but that was the point. "Only one door hotshot, and it requires a charge of some one hundred million volts to open. And guess who's got that here," Stark said while pulling out a device from the armor specifically meant to open the specialized lock.

"You know this won't hold me forever!" roared Masters. "I'll break out of here eventually, and when I do, you'd better pray…"

"Pray for what? That I'm the one who sends you back? Cause if you run into Frank or Natasha or Clint or Maria first, I'm gonna be the one praying for you, cause I can't guarantee anything with them."


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moving right along. The sequel, "Of Their Own Accord", is already on Fanfiction.net. It'll be moved here in masse once this story is done.

"Jesus Christ. There better be a good damn reason Stark is keeping Masters alive," said Frank in a low growl. "He sure as hell won't be puking out any secrets."

"Silly. It's not for that," answered Natasha. "Killing him would have been too easy. Why do that when he can rot in a secure cell for the rest of his life? Don't need to kill someone to punish them. No pun intended."

"You're funny."

"And you're getting the hang of things around here. They're probably waiting in the living room."

He set out to find Clint and Maria. He found them where he had first met them: archery practice, with Clint firing away and Maria keeping time. He snuck up behind Barton first, grabbing him from behind and ruffling his hair.

"Hey, pal," said Barton. "Nice to see Stark got you out in one piece too."

"Was that ever in doubt?"

"Stark DID find you unconscious. You going against Taskmaster like that had me worried, to be honest." He picked up his arrows and bow and proceeded to fire again. Frank turned his attention to Maria, whom he embraced in a hug that he truly meant. She responded in kind.

"Good to have you back," he said to her.

"I could say the same about you. Very risky thing you did last night."

"Only for those I care about." He looked into her blue-grey eyes, and she did the same. "Does this mean I go up on that trust ladder of yours?"

"As long as you keep putting yourself on the line for others, you will." She then kissed him on the lips, seemingly out of nowhere. Frank was surprised, but didn't fight it. When they broke the embrace, Maria looked embarrassed. "I shouldn't have…"

Frank caught her by the arm. "No no, it's alright. You did what needed to be done." He walked off to face Clint, who had a stupid grin on his face. "You two might want to get a room sometimes soon," he chipped in. "I'm sure Stark would approve."

"Fuck you, Barton," both Maria and Frank said, in unison. There were no hard feelings towards him, though.

"Oh, that's how it is." His phone rang. "Oh look, Captain America is calling me. Hey Steve, how's it going? Let me put you on videocam for your fans over here." Clint put Captain America on a much larger screen. Rogers, along with his friend Sam Wilson, appeared, in what was probably the Siberian steppe. It had to be very cold; they both were shivering and Steve chattered when he talked.

"I heard Maria was attacked. Is she all right?" asked Steve, always one to be on alert and concerned.

"Yes, I am, Cap," replied Maria. "Frank, Clint, and Natasha did what they needed to." It was notable that she didn't mention herself as needing rescuing, or as a hostage.

"Well, in any case, I hope you're doing well. No sign of Bucky in Vladivostok. It's another dead end. Sam here is going to investigate some loose ends in China while I head on back."

"Good," said Maria. "I may have intel on a new Alpha level HYDRA threat. I should have all the details by the time you get back." She walked off to her office on another floor, leaving Barton and Castle the barroom floor to themselves.

Barton broke the silence. "Was that your first kiss since your wife or…"

"Don't push it. I don't see you in anything close to a relationship, so don't play judge, either."

"Actually," Clint looked uneasy, "I  _am_  in a relationship. But it's off the books and you can't tell anyone, alright?"

"Fine. I'll leave it at that then." Frank wasn't interested in other people's love lives. He picked up the newspaper. "You hear about this Wilson Fisk guy?"

"No. Why so?"

The man tried to blow up Hell's Kitchen so that he could rebuild it. He was stopped by the costumed figure called 'Daredevil'. I'm going to investigate. Wanna join me?"

"Thanks, but I'm not interested in other vigilantes like you are."

"Be my guest."

_Rooftops, Hell's Kitchen_

Matt Murdock wasn't usually going to go out being Daredevil in the daytime. But since he had an off day for once, he figured he could do some good breaking the red suit again. He admitted the old black outfit he'd first worn to fight crime had grown on him, and he was going to miss it. But the red suit had the body armor stitched in it. He needed that, as his fist fight with Wilson Fisk had proven. He could have died if it wasn't for his body armor.

Running across the rooftops of Hell's Kitchen, he heard a woman crying for help five blocks away. He also heard the two extorters threatening rape if she didn't pay up on time. She was cornered in a mostly abandoned junk lot, so there wasn't anyone who could hear what was going on.

Except him.

Jumping rooftops and avoiding chimneys, he made his way to the abandoned lot in a matter of two minutes. He contemplated giving the two thugs a chance to back out, but he'd experienced enough to know they wouldn't take the offer. So he attacked head on first.

The men were armed with MP7 submachine guns; he could recognize the type of gunmetal of any gun at this point. The first man, kicked in the back from behind, dropped his weapon and was sent to the concrete below him. His friend tried to attack Matt but Matt sensed his arm. He dodged it and kicked him hard in the nether regions. As he went down in pain, the other goon began to crawl for his submachine gun. Matt used one hand to toss it away and used the other to slam the man's head against the ground.

Matt turned to the terrified woman. "You're free to go," he told her, and she did as ordered. Matt turned his attentions towards the thug who was still alive. "tell me who you work for."

"I ain't telling you a damn thing." Despite being smaller than Murdock, Matt could tell he was being serious.

Matt roughed him up, laying onto him as if he was a punching bag. "Wanna change your mind pal?"

Matt never got the chance to hear his response, because a bullet entered one ear and came out the other. Quickly turning, Matt sensed a heavily armed man in a dark trench coat holding a fired gun. He could also detect several layers of body armor under that trench coat.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked the mystery guest.

"Someone like you." Frank extended a hand. "Call me the Punisher."

"Why should I like you? I don't kill."

"And that's why you'll keep struggling out here," replied Frank. "I like that you took down Fisk. I really do. But you should have killed him. You'll regret it once he gets out for whatever reason and he's back to making your life hell again."

Matt's blood was boiling. Literally, he could sense it. "Was the only reason you came here to kill my suspects and lecture me about immorality? Because that's not helping any of us."

Frank sighed. Some people never got it. "No dumbass. I came here on friendly terms. I wanted to give you some advice." He turned in the direction of Stark Tower. "You know about the Avengers, right?"

"Sure. Who doesn't?"

"Believe it or not, I work with them now. Yeah, I know, I'm surprised sometimes as well."

"Really? And what keeps a man like you with them?"

Well…" He almost mention Maria's name but didn't. "Opportunity, I suppose. The ability to do what I do on a larger scale is appealing. Though guys like you and me on the streets, we still make a difference. I'll be in touch."

Matt sensed this Punisher walking off. His thoughts on this guy were mixed. An Avenger/vigilante who had zero qualms about murder? Well, it was bound to happen sometime soon. And at least he wasn't entirely unfriendly.

_Stark Tower, Office of Director of Operations, nighttime_

"Bring in the Avengers? Way ahead of you there, Phil." Maria Hill was on her latest videocam talk with Phil Coulson, a man believed dead by most of the world.

"Forgive me for not knowing you'd activated Theta Protocol two weeks early," said Coulson. "Anyways, the packet I just sent you contains names, dates, locations, everything related to Loki's scepter and Strucker's castle. I trust you've gather my old friends again?"

"Already on it. Steve and Thor should both be back by tomorrow. I'll tell you when it's done."

"Good," said Coulson. "Tell Tony to send my regards to Masters if you can." She closed the connection and sighed to herself. Her work was never over.

Then she noticed him standing in the doorway. She was accustomed to the man in the trench coat and never changing stubble on a wounded face. Under all the figurative scars and the fact he rarely smiled, it was actually a very handsome face.

"You know, there's a saying that dead men don't tell tales. But this one has a lot of tales, doesn't he?"

She stared at Frank Castle coldly. "The others believe he's been dead for two years. It's best to keep it that way."

"And how long before Stark hacks into enough of those leaked SHIELD files until he finds out the truth? And the others?"

"I'll deal with it when the time comes," she answered him. "Don't you have secrets too?"

"I thought we weren't doing this anymore, Maria…" Frank noticed that she looked downcast, so he tried to keep his voice down. You had to around wounded women.

Maria walked over to a couch on the other side of the office and sat. Frank joined her, dropping off his trench coat. "Masters… you have no idea what he did." She began sweating.

Frank put an arm around her. "It's alright. Talk to me, you can trust me."

"I still don't know who to trust," she said, visibly shaken by something.

"What do you mean? Tell me what happened." Frank found it odd to be playing psychologist, but went along with it for Maria's sake.

"Masters … he didn't focus on my body when trying to get secrets out of me. He focused on my mind. Did everything in his power to break my will. He had this former SHIELD agent working with him. I knew him; I worked on missions with him; fuck, I  _trusted_  him. The only thing was that we never knew he was a traitor. He must have buried his tracks good; even Fury thought he was one of us. I'll spare you the gritty details of the physical side, though." As she mentioned Masters' second go round with her, Frank did notice one wrist had a more recent scar on it. They'd opened up old wounds in more ways than one.

"…but by that time, I gave Masters access to Stark Tower. I know it's just a little thing, but I can't help but think I could be forced into potentially betraying those I care about… I don't even want to talk about it-"

She found herself in Frank's gentle arms as her head began to rest on his shoulder. "There, there," he said to her, rocking her back and forth slowly. His hands slowly rubbed her back and brown hair as he allowed her to let out her tears on him.

"You're hurtin' a lot right now, Maria, with good reason. But you don't want to be me. You need to remember that."

She moved her head back, and he saw the confusion in her runny eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"I know you did what you did to protect yourself. It's human. It's same kind of decisions you made to join SHIELD, to harden yourself, to be who you are. But you're not the only one who's broken under that kind of stress, and believe me, what you've done doesn't compare to the shit I did to stay alive. Iraq, my personal wars, all of it. When you're in hell, and you want to get out, you don't fight dirty. No, you fight in a way that makes dirty look clean. That, Maria, is the story of my life. You may think you've gone through hell, but you haven't, cause your still here and still yourself. You have a heart and I don't, so try to use it to remember why you're here."

"Frank, you  _have_  a heart -"

"For you."

Maria took a moment to absorb Frank's words, and then kissed him. It wasn't the ordinary kiss though, it the desperate and needy kind – like a call to action in a time of emergency. Frank gave into it and let the action run its course. When she broke off, he looked at her with sad eyes.

"You know I don't deserve this," he told her with a downcast look. "You deserve a better man than me, like Rogers-"

Maria's response was to cut him off by kissing him again, this time more slowly and intimately. "Maybe that's true," she said back, "but then again, I don't deserve this either."

Frank gave off a weak smile. "Sounds like you don't think I'm so crazy after all."

Now there was no holding back for Frank. It had been a very long time since he'd been with a woman. The next kiss, he was the one shoving his face into hers. He moved along her neck and earlobe, kissing and nibbling where he knew women sought to be, and he took in all of her low moans of pleasure.

He wasn't sure if this was true love again, or merely more physical comfort for both of them. But he wasn't in the mood for deciding. And the former proved to be true, all the better.

Frank and Maria began tearing each other's clothes off in a mad frenzy as he grabbed her in his arms and carried back to his bedroom. From there things naturally escalated. At one moment, it was a quiet and thoughtful phase of relief. The next, it was a furious bout of lovemaking. As they shared that night - and each other – both of them had a realization. This felt more than just sex with a person you cared about. It felt more like salvation.


End file.
